Can Trump go to prison if he violates his gag order?

Let’s go back to October when Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the New York State civil lawsuit for fraudulent asset valuations against Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump Organization, fined the former president $5,000 and warned him twice that he could face imprisonment. The reprimand of Trump came after the judge found that he had violated the limited gag order that had been imposed Oct. 3, 2023, the second day of the trial.

That came after Trump posted on his social media platform a picture of Engoron’s court clerk together with Democratic Senate Majority Leader, who is from New York, claiming that she was Chuck Schumer’s ‘girlfriend’. The judge issued a partial gag order on all parties not to speak about any members of the court staff.

While the post was removed immediately from Truth Social it remained on the Trump campaign website for which the judge chided the defendant’s attorneys as a “blatant violation” of the gag order. “In the current overheated climate incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already has, lead to serious physical harm and worse,” said Engoron.

Can Donald Trump go to prison if he violates a gag order?

“This is a blatant violation of the gag order. I made it clear failure to comply will result in serious sanctions,” Engoron told Trump’s lawyers. “Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order. He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it.”

“Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this Court is way beyond the ‘warning’ stage.”

Chris Kise, one of Trump’s attorneys, apologized on his client’s behalf. “Truly this appears to be inadvertent,” Kise said. He explained that it seems to have been an error on the part of the sprawling inner workings of the campaign and no one took down the link located in the websites “back pages”. The post which the judge had deemed “disparaging, untrue and personally identifying” had remained on the website for over two weeks until Thursday evening.

Engoron said that he would take that “under advisement” but that at the end of the day Trump is wholly responsible for what is on the web page. “I want to make clear that Donald Trump is still responsible for the large machine, even if it is a large machine,” he warned.

“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include, but are not limited to, steeper finanical penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him.”