POLITICS
Why was Donald Trump fined in court? What’s the maximum fine allowed in New York?
Tuesday saw the Stormy Daniels hush money criminal case resumed, with the man at the heart of it unable to follow the judge’s simple instructions.
Another day, and it’s back to the courtroom for Donald Trump. Tuesday 30 April 2024 also saw the former president of the United States handed a $9,000 dollar fine, as he continually violated the gag order that had been placed upon him for the duration of the hush money criminal trial.
What was Trump’s $9,000 fine for?
The fine was not a single one. Instead it was nine individual fines for each of the gag order violations by Trump. This included seven posts on his Truth Social platform and two on his campaign webpage. Understandably, although the amount may seem trivial given the amount of money used in the alleged payments to keep the defendant’s infidelities covered up, Trump’s lawyers argued that he was not breaking any of the rules by reposting other people’s messages on social media. Judge Juan Merchan was having none of that though.
“There can be no doubt whatsoever,” began the judge, “that Defendant’s intent and purpose when reposting, is to communicate to his audience that he endorses and adopts the posted statement as his own.”
Although Trump is allowed to reply to political attacks, he is not, continued the judge, permitted to criticise key witnesses. The posts in question targeted Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, as well as the members of the jury.
What is the maximum fine possible for violation in New York?
As you may have worked out from the information above, the overall fine was made up of nine violations at $1,000 each. In the state of New York that is the maximum amount allowed under law. In the court document it stated the following, which includes a potential punishment of jail if he does not obey:
‘Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment; and it is hereby ORDERED, that Defendant pay a $1,000 fine for each of the nine violations of this Court’s lawful order by the close of business on Friday, May 3, 2024; and it is further ORDERED that Defendant remove the seven offending posts from Defendant’s Truth Social account and the two offending posts from his campaign website by 2:15pm Tuesday, April 30,2024.’