(Photo
by
Michael
M.
Santiago/Getty
Images)
Tick
tock,
Contemnors!
This
morning
Justice
Juan
Merchan
held
Donald
Trump
in
contempt
of
court
for
nine
of
ten
violations
of
the
March
26
gag
order
in
his
false
business
records
case.
The
court
fined
the
former
president
$1,000
a
pop,
and
ordered
him
to
take
down
the
offending
posts
before
2:15.
Still
live
as
of
this
writing!
The
gag
order
bars
Trump
from
making
statements
about
jurors
or
“reasonably
foreseeable
witnesses
concerning
their
potential
participation
in
the
investigation
or
in
this
criminal
proceeding.”
Trump
immediately
vomited
out
several
posts
on
Truth
Social
and
his
campaign
website
attacking
Stormy
Daniels
and
Michael
Cohen,
largely
by
quoting
and
reposting
attacks
by
conservative
commentators.
He
(and
his
lawyer
Alina
Habba)
have
continued
to
attack
the
jurors,
too,
but
that’s
a
problem
for
another
contempt
hearing.
Last
week,
Trump’s
lawyers
Todd
Blanche
and
Emil
Bove
argued
that
it
is
simply
“common
sense”
that
RT’s
are
not
endorsements,
and
also
that
Trump
is
entitled
to
respond
to
political
attacks
by
calling
a
Cohen
a
“serial
perjurer.”
“The
issue
of
‘reposting’
appears
to
be
a
question
of
first
impression,”
Justice
Merchan
wrote
this
morning.
“Lacking
legal
authority
to
guide
its
decision,
this
Court
must,
as
defense
counsel
stated
at
the
hearing,
rely
on
common
sense.”
Observing
that
Trump
himself
has
boasted
that
his
posts
on
Truth
Social
“SPREAD
all
over
the
place,
fast
and
furious.
EVERYBODY
SEEMS
TO
GET
WHATEVER
I
HAVE,
TO
SAY,
AND
QUICKLY,”
the
court
concluded
that
the
defendant
reposted
the
articles
“to
maximize
viewership
and
to
communicate
his
stamp
of
approval”
and
to
“communicate
to
his
audience
that
he
endorses
and
adopts
the
posted
statement
as
his
own.”
Justice
Merchan
noted
that
Judiciary
Law
§
751
presents
him
with
just
two
options
for
punishment:
a
fine
of
$1,000
per
violation
and/or
incarceration.
“It
would
be
preferable
if
the
Court
could
impose
a
fine
more
commensurate
with
the
wealth
of
the
contemnor,”
he
lamented,
observing
that
$1,000
is
functionally
zero
deterrent
for
someone
with
a
ten-figure
net
worth,
and
so
the
court
might
be
forced
to
take
that
second
option
if
Trump
doesn’t
knock
it
off
already.
“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,”
the
judge
warned.
Trump
already
has
a
second
contempt
hearing
scheduled
for
tomorrow.
And
as
of
now,
those
posts
are
still
up.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.