BREAKING: Trump found in contempt of court for 9 gag order violations, threatened with incarceration by judge

Trump is prohibited, under Merchan's order, of "making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding," and from making "public statements about any prospective juror or any juror."

CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported that "The judge has found Donald Trump in contempt for nine violations of the gag order, fining him $1,000 each. There’s another hearing on four more allegations of violations this Thursday."

Trump was charged $9,000 for violations of that gag order. The order reads that the defendant, Trump, "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 incarcertatory punishment, and is hereby ORDERED, that the Defendant pay $1,000 fine for each of the nine violations of this Court's lawful order by the close of business on Friday, May 3, 2024."

Trump has said that the gag order is "unconstitutional."

Posts that the prosecution wants removed include reposts of articles and a comment by Trump denying that he ever had a relationship with Stormy Daniels, who is at the center of this case. Daniels has also denied involvement with Trump.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg alleged that in 2016, Trump's then-attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels to not speak about allegations that she and Trump had an affair years prior. These payments, Bragg said, constituted election interference. Some of the posts prosecutors asked to be removed, for which Trump was fined, were duplicates, reposts of posts he'd already made.

The case against Trump has entered its second week in New York. The first week saw witness testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, along with associates of Trump who worked with him at the Trump organization. Trump was also fined for alleged gag order violations in a civil trial brought against him by New York AG Letitia James.

Refresh this page for updates.