- Judge Juan Merchan hit Trump with his 10th gag order violation Monday, along with a warning of jail.
- Merely fining Trump $1,000 per violation has not been a sufficient deterrent, the judge said.
- "Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," he said.
Next time, it could be jail.
The judge in Donald Trump's New York hush-money trial on Monday found the former president has violated his gag order a tenth time — and warned that another violation could put him in jail.
"It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent," state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump, addressing him directly as "Mr. Trump" in the 15th-floor downtown Manhattan courtroom.
"Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," the judge warned.
"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan added. "You are the former president of the United States. And you may be the next president as well."
The logistics for incarcerating Trump would be monumental, involving court officers, corrections officers, and Secret Service agents, the judge noted.
"The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me," the judge said.
"But at the end of the day, I have a job to do," Merchan said.
Merchan fined Trump an additional $1,000 for violating his gag order on Monday, bringing the total amount Trump has now been fined for breaching the order to $10,000. Last week, the former president was fined $9,000 for violating his gag order nine other times.
Trump's gag order violations — the most recent one involved statements he made to reporters — constitute "a direct attack on the rule of law," the judge said.
"I cannot allow that to continue. So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction, and I have tried everything to avoid doing so, I want you to know that I will," if appropriate, Merchan said.
Trump appeared unfazed Monday as Merchan, in a firm but calm voice, threatened him with jail. The former president remained slouched in his cushioned chair as the judge gave the warning.
In Merchan's written order on the matter, the judge wrote: "Because this is now the tenth time that this Court has found Defendant in criminal contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not, and will not, suffice to deter Defendant from violating this Court's lawful orders."
"THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration," Merchan's order read.
The judge's stern warning came first thing Monday morning, before the start of the third week of testimony in the GOP frontrunner's ongoing criminal trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office allege Trump lied on documents in order to cover up an illegal $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The payment, delivered by Trump's ex-personal attorney and former fixer Michael Cohen, was wired to Daniels 11 days before the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence over a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, according to prosecutors and records shown as evidence in the trial.
Trump has repeatedly denied having an affair with Daniels, a key witness in the case.