Trump returns to campaigning; He would go to prison if he violates gag order

65

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump on Wednesday will use a one-day break in his trial over allegations that he paid to prevent public disclosures to harangue supporters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after the judge found him in contempt and threatened him with jail for violating a gag order.

His statements will be scrutinized a day after Trump was fined $9,000 for making comments on his social network Truth Social and on his campaign website about people linked to the case against him. On Tuesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan warned that if Trump continued to ignore his orders, the court “will impose a punishment of imprisonment.”

Trump is trying to pull off a juggling act unprecedented in American history: being the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee while also being tried on criminal charges in New York. The former president usually rants against Merchan, prosecutors and witnesses at his political rallies and on social networks, which earns him cheers and applause from his followers, but could cause legal problems.

Trump insists he is only exercising his right to free speech, but he still deleted the violating comments from his Truth Social account and his campaign website. Merchan is studying other allegations that Trump violated the gag order, and will hear arguments on the matter on Thursday.

Trump seemed frustrated as the trial concluded the ninth day, saying he should be campaigning in Georgia and New Hampshire instead of sitting in a courtroom.

“They don’t want me campaigning,” Trump told reporters.

Trump has described the cases against him as “electoral interference,” stating that they prevent him from campaigning for the elections in November.

The gag order prohibits him from making public comments about witnesses, jurors or others connected to the case in New York, in which he is accused of trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying publications and individuals to suppress unfavorable news about him. . Trump has pleaded not guilty.

___

Gómez Licón reported from Miami and Price from Freeland, Michigan.