Trump hit with 10th gag violation and warning: next time, jail

The judge in Donald Trump's New York hush-money trial found the former president violated his gag order a tenth time and warned he could face jail.

• Judge Juan Merchan hit Trump with his 10th gag order violation Monday, along with a warning of jail. 
• Merely fining Trump $1,000 per violation has not been a sufficient deterrent, the judge said.
• "Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," he said.

Next time, it could be jail.

The judge in Donald Trump's New York hush-money trial on Monday found the former president has violated his gag order a tenth time — and warned that another violation could put him in jail.

"It appears the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent," state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump, addressing him directly as "Mr. Trump."

"Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," the judge warned.

"The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan added. "You are the former president of the United States. And you may be the next president as well."

The logistics for incarcerating Trump would be monumental, involving court officers, corrections officers, and Secret Service agents, the judge noted.

"The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me," the judge said.

"But at the end of the day, I have a job to do," he said.

Trump's gag order violations — the most recent one involved statements he made to reporters — constitute "a direct attack on the rule of law," the judge said.

"I cannot allow that to continue. So as much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction, and I have tried everything to avoid doing so, I want you to know that I will," if appropriate, he said.

The stern warning came first thing Monday morning, before the start of the third week of testimony in the GOP frontrunner's ongoing Manhattan trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.