It's the 10th violation, and the judge again threatened the former president with jail time for future violations.

By Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney and Erica Orden
05/06/2024, 9:55am ETUpdated: 05/06/2024, 10:17am ET

Justice Juan Merchan gave Donald Trump a stern warning Monday morning that he will end up behind bars if he continues to violate the gag order the judge imposed in Trump’s hush money trial in New York.

“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan said as he found Trump had violated the gag for a 10th time.

“Your continued willful violations of this court’s orders threaten to interfere with the ... administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue,” the judge said.

Trump looked directly at Merchan as he announced the finding and delivered the strong caution. Merchan also discussed some of the complexities of putting Trump in jail, while saying he would do that if Trump’s defiance continues.

“It’s important to understand that the last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are a former president of the United States and possibly a future president, as well. ... There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last step for me,” the judge said.

“I also worry about the people who would have to execute that sanction,” Merchan added, referring to jail personnel, the Secret Service and others. “At the end of the day I have a job to do — part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system.”

Last week, Merchan held Trump in contempt and imposed $1,000 fines for each of nine instances where he found Trump had violated the gag order, which generally prohibits him from publicly commenting on jurors, witnesses or other people involved in the case. (Trump remains free, however, to criticize the judge himself, as well as District Attorney Alvin Bragg.)

In a written order Monday, the judge again held Trump in contempt for one of four additional statements that prosecutors had claimed were violations. That statement was an attack Trump lodged on the jury in his case on April 22 on a radio show called “Just the News, No Noise.”

“That jury was picked so fast — 95 percent Democrats,” Trump said on the show.

“Defendant violated the Order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected,” Merchan said. “In doing so, Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones.”

In last week's contempt ruling, Merchan threatened Trump with jail time for further violations of the gag. One reason the judge opted against immediately ordering Trump to jail for the most recent violation, at issue in Monday's ruling, is that Trump made the statement on the radio show before the initial contempt ruling.

Under the New York criminal contempt law that prosecutors have invoked to penalize Trump's gag order violations, the maximum penalty is $1,000 per violation or 30 days in jail.