Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s historic hush money are expected to tell a judge he should be held in contempt over a series of posts on his Truth Social platform that they say violated an earlier gag order barring him from attacking witnesses in the case.
Trump’s lawyers deny that he broke the order. The former president’s first criminal trial kicked off on Monday with the prosecution and defence teams offering their opening statements.
It also saw testimony from the first witness in the trial, tabloid media mogul David Pecker, who prosecutors say worked with Trump and the former president’s lawyer Michael Cohen on a strategy called “catch and kill” to buy up and then spike negative stories.
Pecker, a longtime friend of the 77-year-old, is expected to resume his testimony today. The case is the first criminal trial of a former US president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — a charge punishable by up to four years in prison — though it’s not clear if the judge would seek to put him behind bars. He denies the accusations against him.
A conviction would not preclude the property mogul from becoming president again, but because it is a state case, he would not be able to pardon himself if found guilty. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in this, and all other cases he faces.
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