NEW YORK - The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial on April 23 told Trump’s lawyer he is “losing all credibility” as he considered whether the former president should be punished for violating a gag order that prevents him from publicly criticising witnesses and others involved in the case.

Prosecutors asked Justice Juan Merchan to fine Trump US$10,000 (S$13,600) for violating the order.

Defence lawyer Todd Blanche argued that Trump should not be punished for responding to political attacks.

Justice Merchan said he would not immediately rule on the prosecution’s request.

At a hearing to consider the issue, Justice Merchan appeared to grow frustrated after Mr Blanche did not provide specific examples of the attacks to which Trump was said to be responding.

The judge told Mr Blanche he had neither case law nor evidence to back up his argument.

“You’ve presented nothing,” Justice Merchan said. “I’ve asked you eight or nine times, show me the exact post he was responding to. You’ve not even been able to do that once.”

“Mr Blanche, you’re losing all credibility.

“I have to tell you right now, you’re losing all credibility with the court,” the judge added.

The judge’s gag order prevents Trump from publicly criticising witnesses, court officials and their relatives. Trump has said it is a violation of his constitutional free speech rights.

New York prosecutor Christopher Conroy said Trump has run afoul of the order with posts on his Truth Social platform.

“Defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped,” Mr Conroy told Justice Merchan. “The court should now hold him in contempt.”

Mr Conroy pointed to an April 10 post that called porn star Stormy Daniels and his former lawyer Michael Cohen “sleazebags”.

Both are expected to testify in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Mr Conroy said other posts led to media coverage that prompted a juror last week to withdraw over privacy concerns.

“He knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway,” Mr Conroy said of Trump. “His disobedience of the order is willful. It’s intentional.”

The US$10,000 fine sought by Mr Conroy would be a relatively small penalty for Trump, who has posted US$266.6 million in bonds as he appeals civil judgments in two other cases.

Mr Conroy said he was not at this point asking Justice Merchan to send Trump to jail for up to 30 days, as New York law allows.

“The defendant seems to be angling for that,” Mr Conroy said.

Mr Blanche said the posts were responses to political attacks by Mr Cohen and not related to his former lawyer’s expected testimony.

“He’s allowed to respond to political attacks,” Mr Blanche said.

Trump is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a US$130,000 payment shortly before the 2016 US election to buy Ms Daniels’ silence about a sexual encounter she has said they had in 2006.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies such an encounter took place.

Prosecutors have said it was part of a wider conspiracy to hide unflattering information from voters at a time when he was facing multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour.

“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said on April 22.

In his own opening statement, Mr Blanche said Trump did not commit any crimes.

“There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy,” he told jurors.

Mr Blanche said Trump acted to protect his family and his reputation, and accused Ms Daniels of trying to profit from a false accusation that they had sex.

Jurors are expected to hear more testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. Prosecutors say he participated in a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress unflattering stories about Trump and help him get elected.

Mr Pecker, 72, testified on April 22 that his company paid for stories – an unusual practice in journalism.

American Media, which published the National Enquirer, admitted in 2018 that it paid US$150,000 to former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal for her story about a months-long affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.

American Media said it worked “in concert” with Trump’s campaign and it never published a story.

The tabloid reached a similar deal to pay US$30,000 to a doorman who was seeking to sell a story about Trump allegedly fathering a child out of wedlock, which turned out to be false, according to prosecutors.

Trump has said the payments were personal and did not violate election law. He has also denied an affair with Ms McDougal.

The case may be the only one of the Republican Trump’s four criminal prosecutions to go to trial before his Nov 5 election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.

A guilty verdict would not bar Trump from taking office but it could hurt his candidacy.

Reuters/Ipsos polling shows that half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for Trump if he is convicted of a crime.

REUTERS