Former US President Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 2, 2024.
Doug Mills | Afp | Getty Images
For three weeks, Donald Trump has bounced between the campaign trail and Manhattan Supreme Court, where he faces 34 felony counts for falsifying business records, in order to conceal hush-money payments to a porn star during his previous White House run in 2016.
Wednesdays are Trump’s free day from the proceedings, and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee used his most recent midweek respite to galvanize his base in swing states Wisconsin and Michigan with a very clear message: He’s got a “crooked,” “corrupt,” and “totally conflicted” judge in his “fake trial” in New York.
He also bragged to supporters that he’s seen a bump in the polls thanks to the raft of criminal charges against him.
It has to be a harrowing pace for the 77-year-old, though he has denied multiple reports that he’s fallen asleep repeatedly in court, saying that he is “simply” closing his “beautiful blue eyes” and listening “intensely.”
The historic hush-money trial, which still has another three to five weeks to go, marks the first-ever criminal trial of an ex-U.S. president. It is also the first of four separate criminal cases against him.
As the trial enters its fourth week, here are the highlights thus far.
Fined $9,000 for contempt of court
Former US President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, US, on Friday, May 3, 2024.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Judge Juan Merchan doesn’t care if Trump speaks out against him in public, like he did to crowds in Waukesha, Wisconsin and Freeland, Michigan on Wednesday.
Merchan has also given the defendant a pretty long leash with respect to airing grievances with the press and on the campaign trail about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, President Joe Biden, and other political foes — so long as the presumptive presidential nominee doesn’t touch the topic of jurors, likely witnesses in his case, and staff and family members of the court and the DA’s office.
The order also does not, despite Trump’s protestation to the contrary, bar him from testifying in his own defense.
Thus far, prosecutors say Trump has breached the fairly narrow gag order fourteen times.
On Tuesday, April 30, the judge held Trump in contempt for repeatedly violating the gag order, warned that he could be put in jail if he again willfully violates court orders, fined Trump the maximum punishment of $1,000 for each of the nine violations, and ordered him to take down the posts from Truth Social and his campaign website.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy called Trump’s statements “corrosive” to the proceedings, but said the government was “not yet seeking jail” because prosecutors “prefer to minimize disruptions.”
The judge has not yet ruled on whether Trump violated the gag order another four times.