Trump removes social media posts that violated gag order

Former President Trump deleted social media posts that a judge determined violated a gag order in his criminal hush money trial, just before a Tuesday deadline.

Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $9,000 and held him in contempt nine times early Tuesday over the posts on Truth Social and his campaign website, which included attacks on prospective jurors and witnesses in the case. He added that further violations could result in jail time.

“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote in his ruling.

Trump faced a 2:15 p.m. EDT deadline to remove the posts.

The nine deleted posts, most of them reposts of other online figures, include multiple attacks on expected witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, as well as a post blasting potential jurors as “liberal activists.” Merchan found that one of the posts in question, a repost of attorney Michael Avenatti, which disparaged Daniels and Cohen, did not violate the gag order and could remain online.

The expanded gag order, which Trump has repeatedly criticized as too limiting, bars him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family in his hush money case, in which he stands accused of paying off a porn actor ahead of the 2016 election to prevent the public from learning of an alleged affair, then writing down the payment as a legal expense. 

Trump’s trial, the first ever criminal trial of a former president, will continue Thursday. It is expected to last about a month.

These are the nine posts that have been removed.

Daniels’s 2018 statement denying relationship with Trump

“LOOK WHAT WAS JUST FOUND,” the former President posted on the morning of April 10, above a photo of a 2018 statement from Daniels denying her relationship with Trump. “WILL THE FAKE NEWS REPORT IT?”

Daniels has since renounced the statement denying her relationship with Trump.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112247471112784333

‘Disgraced attorney and felon’ Michael Cohen

“Has Mark POMERANTZ been prosecuted for his terrible acts in and out of the D.A.’s Office,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on April 13, referring to one of the senior Manhattan prosecutors who investigated the former president and resigned in February 2023.

“Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING,” Trump continued. “Only TRUMP people get prosecuted by this Judge and these thugs! A dark day for our Country. MAGA 2024!!!”

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112264962642942105

Jonathan Turley’s ‘serial perjurer’ article for the New York Post

“A serial perjurer will try to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump in an embarrassment for the New York legal system,” Trump quoted in a post on April 15, attaching a link to legal scholar Jonathan Turley’s article with the same headline for the New York Post.

The Hill has previously published op-eds written by Turley.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112275405545650590

Repost on Truth Social: Turley’s ‘serial perjurer’ article

Trump reposted the same link and quote to Turley’s article slightly more than an hour after he made the first post on April 15.

“Making this assorted business even more repellant will be the appearance of Cohen himself on the stand,” Turley wrote.

“Cohen was recently denounced by a judge as a serial perjurer who is continuing to game the system.”

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112275696246863613

Repost on Trump’s campaign website: Turley’s ‘serial perjurer’ article

The former president also linked to Turley’s article on his 2024 campaign website.

The page’s title reads, “ICYMI: ‘A serial perjurer will try to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump in an embarrassment for the New York Legal system.’”

Second Truth Social repost: Turley’s ‘serial perjurer’ article

Trump simply linked the URL for the New York Post article from Turley a day after his initial post on Truth Social.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112282163636037050

National Review article on Cohen guilty plea

The former president shared a screenshot of a full article in the National Review from Andrew McCarthy, titled “No, Cohen’s Guilty Plea Does Not Prove Trump Committed Campaign-Finance Crimes,” in a Truth Social post April 16.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112283417331198737

Second repost on Trump’s campaign website: Turley’s ‘serial perjurer’ article

The Trump campaign’s website linked to the article again the day after it was first shared on the website.

“A serial perjurer will try to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump in an embarrassment for the New York legal system.”

“Read the full article by Jonathan Turley for the NY Post here,” the page read.

Jesse Watters quote slamming prospective jurors

“They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,” Trump shared April 17 on Truth Social, quoting Fox News anchor Jesse Watters.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112288751107447732

Zach Schonfeld contributed.