Judge threatens to send Trump to jail if he continues attacking witnesses in Stormy Daniels case

Former President Donald Trump has once again been fined $1,000 for violating an order barring him from attacking witnesses or jurors in the criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels case. Judge Juan M. Merchan has not only banned Trump but also threatened him with jail if he violates the order for the third time. “This court will have to consider a sentence that includes prison,” Marchan said. “Finally, I have one thing to do. “Part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system.”

Faced with the words of a judge whose patience was running out, Trump did not panic at all. Merchan’s threat comes in the fourth week of his trial in Manhattan for embezzling payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump is accused of buying the silence of Daniels, with whom he had an affair, to prevent his identity from being revealed. Case While facing the 2016 presidential election campaign, the $130,000 payment in exchange for his silence was hidden under the label of “legal expenses”, a fact that is considered document falsification and punishable by up to four years in prison in New York State. It is a prison. In total, Trump is accused of 34 crimes.

Given the former president’s willingness to use his social networks to attack anyone he doesn’t like, at the beginning of the trial, Marchan was given a letter to prevent this great man from attacking witnesses and jurors. Order had to be filed. Still, it seems that the measure is not enough to stop Trump: last week, the magnate was already fined $9,000 ( A fine of $1,000 per violation) was imposed. $130,000 to buy his silence. Both Cohen and Daniels are among the few key witnesses who have not yet taken the stand. In fact, it is expected that Daniels’ turn to testify will come soon.

This time the fine has been imposed after an interview given by Trump on Real America Voice television on April 22. According to Reuters, the former president criticized the jury selection process, saying it was chosen too quickly and that “95% (are) Democrats”. In Marchan’s view, these statements not only attempt to once again cast doubt on the integrity of the trial and its validity, but also take aim at the jury.

This Monday, Jeffrey S. McConkey, who worked as an auditor at the Trump Organization and who, according to prosecutors, also helped arrange a $130,000 payment to Daniels, has been called to testify as a witness. McConkey’s involvement in the fraud scheme occurred after Cohen made payments to Daniels in late 2016. Cohen sent an invoice for $35,000 for legal fees in January 2017 and another bill in February of that year. According to the indictment, the company’s chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, approved the payments and McConkey then asked another accounting employee to issue them and record them as “legal expenses.”

McConkey is no newcomer to Trump’s justice chain: He was also called to testify during a tax fraud civil case in New York. In that trial, McConkey also participated as a defendant. At the end of the trial, the judge overseeing the civil case, Arthur F. Angoron banned McConkey from serving as a director of any New York company for three years and banned him for the rest of his life from holding a financial management position in any company operating in the state.

The trial in New York is the only one of four criminal cases against Trump that have been successful. The other three cases (the attempted election fraud in Georgia, the Mar-a-Lago papers, and the attempted attack on the Capitol) are stalled due to Trump’s defense strategy of flooding the courts with motions. A hearing is expected to begin at some point this May in the case of classified papers housed at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.