STORY: The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial on Thursday signaled he might impose even more fines on the former U.S. president for violating a gag order.
Justice Juan Merchan earlier this week fined Trump $9,000 for his online remarks about potential witnesses in his trial.
And prosecutors have asked Merchan to fine Trump another $4,000 for comments he made last week about the jury.
In a hearing Thursday, Trump's defense lawyer argued Trump did not violate the court prohibition on criticizing jurors, witnesses, or court staff.
Merchan responded: "Well, I'm not agreeing with that argument."
But the judge did not immediately say whether he would impose a fine.
Trump's earlier fines were over messages criticizing his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who is expected to testify against his former boss, and for sharing media posts alleging anti-Trump activists were trying to infiltrate the trial jury.
Prosecutors are now asking that Trump be penalized for social media posts complaining he could not get a fair trial from jurors in the heavily Democratic Manhattan district.
"We're down at the trial now getting ready to spend another day in the courthouse, which is bogus trial that every leading authority on law says this should never have been brought..."
Trump on Thursday continued to rail against the trial, claiming that it was part of a political effort to undermine his bid for the White House.
The gag order does not prevent the Republican presidential candidate from criticizing prosecutors or the judge himself.
UPSOUND TRUMP:
"A fake trial that all of the legal scholars say is a disgrace. It's a fake trial."
New York prosecutors charged Trump with falsifying business records to hide a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump faces three other criminal prosecutions, though it is not clear whether any of them will go to trial before the Nov. 5 presidential election. Two accuse him of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, while another accuses him of mishandling classified documents after leaving office. He has pleaded not guilty in all four cases.
