In his New York criminal trial on Monday, former President Trump faced a new threat.
The possibility of sending Trump to jail was raised by Judge Juan Merchan due to his repeated violation of a gag order.
After fining Trump for the 10th time for breaking the order, Judge Merchan warned that Trump could go to jail. The order prohibits the former president from attacking jurors, court officials, and the judge’s family, among others.
Trump has expressed discontent about the gag order, claiming that his rights are being violated.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records in 34 felony charges. This is the first criminal trial of a former president.
According to prosecutors, Trump attempted to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the final stages of the 2016 election campaign.
The payment was meant to prevent Daniels from publicly disclosing her sexual encounter with Trump around a decade earlier. Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, paid the money to Daniels and was later refunded.
Trump denies having engaged in any illegal activity or having had a sexual encounter with Daniels.
Here are five key points from Monday’s proceedings.
The threat of Trump being jailed is looming
Disputes over the gag order have been central to the drama of the trial.
Merchan’s remarks about sending Trump to jail came after imposing another $1,000 fine on the former president. This brought Trump’s total fines in the case to $10,000.
The initial ruling on Monday could have been harsher for Trump. The single instance in which Merchan found a violation was one of four comments made by the former president that prosecutors had identified.
However, the judge also expressed concern about Trump’s public statements on the trial, which have been made in interviews and on social media. These statements "threaten to interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law."
Merchan said, "I cannot allow that to continue."
In the judge’s written order, it was stated that new violations, if deemed appropriate and justified, "will be punishable by incarceration."
Jailing Trump may potentially work in his favor politically by further energizing his most fervent supporters.
Nevertheless, it was surprising to hear a former president being directly threatened with jail time, irrespective of the case’s eventual verdict.
More information is unveiled about the hush money payments
Monday witnessed the disclosure of new details about the mechanisms of the reimbursement payments.
This occurred during the testimony of Jeffrey McConney, the former corporate controller of the Trump Organization.
McConney highlighted how the reimbursement of Cohen, paid in installments, initially came from a Trump trust and later from the former president’s personal account. In total, out of the $420,000 eventually paid to Cohen, $105,000 originated from the trust, and $315,000 from Trump’s personal funds.
As previously known, Cohen was reimbursed $420,000 for a $130,000 expense due to the inclusion of various taxes in the “grossed up” amount. Additionally, a $60,000 bonus was included.
Trump was elected as the 45th president when Cohen was getting repaid. Some personal checks had to be sent from New York to the White House for Trump’s signature, as testified by McConney.
Another Trump Organization witness, Deborah Tarasoff, said on Monday that the checks would be sent to Washington via FedEx and return with Trump’s signature, usually signed with a sharpie.
What’s the problem with Trump’s defense?
When the New York indictment was announced 13 months ago by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), even some legal experts who are not fond of Trump were concerned about the case's validity.
Trump’s claimed offense only becomes a felony instead of a misdemeanor if it is committed in furtherance of another crime.
The prosecution argues that Trump’s alleged record falsification was meant to aid him in winning the 2016 election and thus amounts to election interference. However, the former president has not been charged with any election-law offense.
Additionally, Trump’s team contends that classifying the payments to Cohen as a legal expense is fair and accurate, therefore there is no case to answer.
Trump’s team seemed to make progress on Monday with some tough questions to McConney.
Trump lawyer Emil Bove gained agreement from the former controller when he dryly asked if “payments to lawyers are legal expenses.”
Bove also got McConney to agree that verbal agreements for legal representation can be valid. This is relevant because McConney had earlier testified he had never seen any written agreement for Cohen at the time.
A nod to ‘The Apprentice TV Show‘
Monday’s testimony included a detail that brought to mind Trump’s popular reality TV series, NBC’s “The Apprentice.”
McConney remembered how, back in the 1980s, he entered Trump’s office only to be told “You’re fired” — the phrase that would later become a catchphrase.
Trump didn’t actually want to dismiss McConney. But the future president was annoyed that his cash level had dropped during the previous week.
Trump suggested that McConney could “negotiate” bills lower to prevent this from happening again.
Reporters in the courtroom noted that Trump seemed to enjoy the story.
Prosecution needs two more weeks to present its case.
Merchan has worked hard to ensure the trial proceeds as efficiently as possible.
That seems to be successful so far. At the end of Monday’s proceedings, the prosecution team stated they needed about two more weeks to present their case.
Immediately after court adjourned for the day, Trump complained to reporters that this was too long, adding, “I thought they were going to be finished today.”
In fact, the trial was widely expected to last about six weeks. It appears to still be on track for that timeframe.
