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The New York hush money trial of Donald Trump resumed Tuesday as its first witness, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, returned to the witness stand.
Pecker was a key player in the alleged “catch and kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump years earlier. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to one of those women, porn star Stormy Daniels.
Before Pecker continued testifying, Judge Juan Merchan held a hearing on whether the former president should be held in contempt for allegedly violating his gag order 10 times in online posts.
Seven of those posts came during last week’s jury selection process. Most either referenced, or linked to articles referencing, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, a key witness in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial.
One of Trump’s posts on Truth Social echoed a claim from Fox News host Jesse Watters that “undercover Liberal Activists” are “lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”
The posts “unquestionably relate to known witnesses and prospective jurors in this criminal trial” in violation of Trump’s gag order, assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy wrote in a court filing Thursday.
During the hearing Tuesday morning, Conroy accused Trump of violating the gag order again on Monday, when he spoke about Cohen outside the courtroom.
State prosecutors will submit a court filing based on latest alleged violation later Tuesday, similar to the ones that triggered the contempt hearing, Conroy said.
“His disobedience of the order is willful. It’s intentional,” Conroy said. “He knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway.”
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche countered, “there was absolutely no willful violation of the gag order.”
Blanche noted that Trump’s gag order does not bar him from responding to political attacks. He argued that Trump’s posts were in response to political comments and were not focused on witness testimony.
Trump is trying to carefully comply with the gag order, Blanche said. But Merchan appeared unconvinced.
“Mr. Blanche, you’re losing all credibility with this court,” the judge said.
The prosecutors want Merchan to hold Trump in contempt of court. If that happens, Merchan could technically impose punishments ranging from a small fine of up to 30 days in county jail.
Conroy in the hearing said that while the state is not seeking to incarcerate Trump, Merchan should remind him that “incarceration is an option, should it be necessary.”
The judge did not rule during the hearing, which ended shortly before 11 a.m. ET.
On Monday, jurors heard opening statements from the prosecution, which alleged that Trump led a criminal hush money scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election. Opening statements also came from the defense, which denied that Trump had committed any crime.
“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the jury.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche fired back, “I have a spoiler alert: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.”
Trump is charged with falsifying business records to discreetly reimburse Cohen, who in late 2016 paid Daniels $130,000 for her silence about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump years earlier.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of carrying out the hush money scheme to influence the 2016 election, which he would go on to win.
