Former US President Donald Trump was on Friday October 20 ordered to pay Ksh750,000 (USD 5,000) for violating a gag order.
A New York judge had prohibited Trump from speaking about members of the court room but he the former US President violated the directive.
Following his blantant disregard of the directive, Trump was warned twice about possible imprisonment.
“Donald Trump has received ample warning from this Court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order. He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it,” Judge Arthur Engoron stated.
“Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is not longer appropriate; this Court is way behind the ‘warning’ stage, ” the judge added.
The court issued a gag order on October 3 on all parties not to speak about any members of the court staff.
This was after Trump posted on Truth Social attacking Engoron’s clerk.
The post claimed she was a “girlfriend” to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, showing a picture of the two of them together.
The post was removed from Truth Social right after the gag order was issued, but it was not erased from Trump’s campaign website, DonaldJTrump.com.
In court, Engoron admonished the former president’s attorneys for a “blatant violation” of the gag order and suggested that violations could result in “imprisonment.”
“I learned that the subject post was never removed from the website,” he said. “And, in fact, had been on that website for the past 17 days. I understand that it was removed late last night but only in response to an email.”
Trump attorney Chris Kise apologized to Engoron, saying it was “inadvertent” that the post was able to live on what he called a “back page” of Trump’s campaign website.
The former US President is expected to clear his name in time to face President Joe Biden in 2024 election contest.
