Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggâs office on Thursday urged Judge Juan Merchan to slap former President Donald Trump with four contempt charges for comments Trump made about his trial on charges of falsifying business records.
Under a gag order issued by Merchan, Trump is barred from talking about the witnesses and jurors in the trial. Merchan fined Trump $9,000 earlier this week for violations of the order and mused about whether jail would need to be the answer to stop the violations.
On Thursday, a hearing took place concerning four other comments for which the prosecution wants Trump punished, according to CBS.
Two of the comments concerned Michael Cohen, who was Trumpâs lawyer at the time of the 2016 payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and will be a witness. One comment concerned former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who testified last week. The fourth comment prosecutors cited was a remark about the jurors.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said Trump violated the order in commenting that Pecker was âvery nice.â
âThe defendant knows what heâs doing. He talks about the witness, says nice things, does it in front of cameras,â Conroy said. âThe he answered was about the witness who was testifying. It was deliberate and it was calculated.â
Attorney Todd Blanche, who was representing Trump, said the remark was a âvery fair and neutral answerâ to a question.
âWhen you have President Trump saying something completely neutral about the witness, thatâs not a violation,â Blanche said. Merchan said he was ânot terribly concernedâ about the comment.
Blanche said Cohen has been âinviting and almost daring President Trump to respond to everything he has been sayingâ through âpersonal attacks, mocking him for being on trial and comments about his candidacy.
âThis is not a man that needs protection from the gag order,â Blanche said.
Blanche also responded to a comment from Trump that the jury was â95% Democrats.â
The dig âabsolutely, positivelyâ did not violate the order because no single juror was cited, Blanche argued.
Merchan did not issue an order on Thursday.
As he left Court, Trump vented his frustration with the trial.
âWeâre seeing all of the crime thatâs going on outside, and to be sitting in this courtroom is just ridiculous. It is election interference at the highest level thatâs never been done before in our country. And I shouldnât be campaigning right now,â Trump said, according to Fox News.
âHe has me under an unconstitutional gag order. Nobodyâs ever had that before. And we donât like it, and itâs not fair. Other people are allowed to do whatever they want to us, and Iâm not allowed as ⌠the Republican Party nominee, and the one whoâs leading Biden by a lot, Iâm not allowed to talk,â Trump said,
âThereâs never been an abuse like this before, this conflicted judge should get out of this case, he should not be having this case. He gives us nothing. Itâs such a rigged Court. So Iâm not allowed to testify. Because of an unconstitutional gag order. Weâre appealing the gag order,â Trump said, according to NBC.
Earlier, Trump shared his anger on Truth Social.
WE CANNOT LET THIS RADICAL LEFT, CORRUPT AND HIGHLY CONFLICTED New York DEMOCRAT JUDGE INTERFERE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2024 â THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. THE USA IS TRULY A NATION IN DECLINE! REMOVE THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL GAG ORDER,â Trump posted.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.