Trump is still pushing the limits of the gag order. It could come back to haunt him at sentencing.

NEW YORK — So far, Donald Trump has faced only fines for repeatedly violating a gag order in his hush money case.

The consequences might not end there. If he’s convicted, Trump’s defiance of the judge’s order — including two recent comments posing a new test of its boundaries — could make things worse for the former president at sentencing.

“Those are obviously aggravating factors, generically speaking, for someone to get a stiffer sentence,” said Mark Bederow, a veteran New York defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor, referring to Trump’s unrepentant verbal attacks on witnesses, prosecutors and the judge himself.

Justice Juan Merchan has already punished Trump for some of those attacks. Merchan twice held Trump in contempt for 10 comments that he found to violate the gag order, which he imposed before the trial to try to keep Trump from bullying people involved in the case. The judge issued a $1,000 fine for each violation, the maximum allowed under state law. And, in an explicit recognition that the fines would have little deterrence for a man as rich as Trump, he threatened to throw the former president in jail for future violations.

For a while after the jail threat on May 6, Trump was better behaved in his public commentary. But as the trial nears its end — with closing arguments scheduled for Tuesday — he has resumed making comments that seem to dare the judge into taking further action.

On May 16 and again on May 21, Trump assailed one of the prosecutors working on the case, Matthew Colangelo. Although Trump did not use Colangelo’s name, his comments — in which he claimed that a prosecutor “came from” the Justice Department to run the hush money case — were clear references to Colangelo, who worked at DOJ before moving to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Under the gag order, Trump is forbidden from publicly commenting on the team working for DA Alvin Bragg (though he is allowed to comment on Bragg himself). He is also not permitted to comment on jurors or witnesses.

Prosecutors have not alerted Merchan to Trump’s most recent comments about Colangelo — a departure from their practice early in the trial, when they notified the judge about every potential violation of the gag order.

Now, they appear focused on simply getting the case over the finish line.

“The gag order, having to deal with the gag order, is a huge distraction for both sides,” said Anna Cominsky, a law professor at New York Law School.

“They may have decided that with some of these — what they may determine are violations — that they just don’t want to pursue,” Cominsky said.

But that doesn’t mean prosecutors aren’t keeping track of Trump’s public comments. And if he’s convicted, prosecutors could invoke them as one reason for a stiffer sentence.

“Trump’s contempt for the judge’s gag order is so unprecedented that it’s very difficult to say how a judge would usually handle such a situation,” said Barbara McQuade, a legal commentator and former U.S. attorney.

Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The maximum prison sentence is four years, but any prison time is far from certain because the charges are low-level felonies and Trump, if convicted, would be a first-time offender. Merchan’s decision about whether to impose prison time or some lesser punishment, like probation, might hinge on how the judge weighs various mitigating or aggravating factors.

“Remorse and the need to promote respect for the law are typically factors that a judge takes into consideration when imposing sentences. Trump’s repeated violations of the gag order certainly demonstrate the lack of remorse and respect for the law,” McQuade said.

Cominsky agreed it is something the judge could consider at sentencing, but said in her view it would not be appropriate to impose a harsher sentence based on the gag order violations.

“With respect to the contempt, he has already been punished,” Cominsky said.

The pair of contempt orders did seem to have somewhat of a chilling effect on Trump’s rhetoric. Most of the 10 violations came from social-media statements Trump posted about potential witnesses, and he has stopped doing that.

And in his daily gaggles with reporters in the courthouse hallway, he frequently notes that he’s limited in what he’s allowed to say while arguing that those limits violate his First Amendment rights.

“Remember, I’m gagged,” he said earlier this week on the day that his lawyers rested their case. “So why would I take the chance? We do want to defend our Constitution. So at some point maybe I will take the chance.”

Later that day, Trump did appear to take a chance when, speaking again to reporters in the hallway, he took one of his swipes at Colangelo.

“Look at the person, why don’t you look at the person who argued their case, almost the entire case? Look at the person — where did he come from?” Trump said of the prosecutor.

“He came from Biden,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s Biden because I don’t think Biden has any idea of what the hell is happening, but it’s from the fascists that circle the Oval Office.”

Colangelo is a former Justice Department official who joined Bragg’s office in 2022. His former federal role has made him a target of conservative media and the House Judiciary Committee, whose GOP chairman recently sought records about him from the New York attorney general.

With the trial on a hiatus until Tuesday’s closing arguments, Trump has several days in which he’s not confined to the courthouse under the watchful eyes of Merchan — or the eyes of his lawyers, who stay constantly at his side in and around the courtroom.

Trump has a number of public events scheduled, including a speech on Saturday at the Libertarian convention. Prosecutors will probably be watching to see how conservative Trump is with his words.