Donald Trump slams Judge after removing viral posts following prison threat for violating gag order

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Former President Donald Trump has complied with a court order issued by Judge Juan Merchan to remove social media posts that were deemed to have violated the gag order for his New York criminal hush money trial.

The posts, which criticized expected trial witnesses, led to Trump being fined $9,000 on Tuesday, April 30.

Donald Trump’s violation of his gag order and subsequent fine

The court had ordered Trump to remove the posts by 2.15 pm ET on Tuesday and pay the fine by the close of business day on Friday, May 3.

The posts, which were on his Truth Social platform and campaign website, now redirect to a “Not found” and a “404” error page, respectively.

These posts were cited by New York Judge Juan Merchan in the former president’s criminal trial and had been liked nearly 79,000 times and reposted, or “ReTruthed,” nearly 28,000 times, noted CNN. 

Before the witness testimony started, Trump’s defense made two key arguments in his favor. One was reposts of other people’s words do not violate the gag order, and second, the posts represent protected political speech in response to attacks.

Judge Juan Merchan’s rejection of Donald Trump’s defense for violating gag order

Judge Juan Merchan rejected both arguments in his contempt ruling on Tuesday. He found that reposts are, in this case, endorsements.

“There can be no doubt whatsoever, that Defendant’s intent and purpose when reposting, is to communicate to his audience that he endorses and adopts the posted statement as his own,” he wrote.

Judge Merchan acknowledged that the gag order does allow Trump to respond to political attacks, but said criticisms of key witnesses were not allowed.

“To allow such attacks upon protected witnesses with blanket assertions that they are all responses to ‘political attacks’ would be an exception that swallowed the rule. The Expanded Order does not contain such an exception,” he wrote.

“This Court rejects Defendant’s arguments and finds that the People have established the elements of criminal contempt beyond a reasonable doubt as to Exhibits 2-10,” the ruling stated.

“Defendant violated the Order by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding,” it further added.

Judge Juan Merchan threatened Donald Trump with prison if gag order violations continue

Judge Merchan threatened incarceration if Trump willfully violated the gag order again. “THEREFORE, 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,” he warned.

However, after removing the posts, Trump again lashed out at Judge Merchan writing in his Truth Social media post, "This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH."

"I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole “Trial” is RIGGED, and by taking away my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, THIS HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE IS RIGGING THE PRESIDENTIAL OF 2024 ELECTION. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!," Trump asserted.

Internet reacts to Donald Trump’s compliance to delete Truth Social posts

Netizens had mixed reactions to Trump removing social media posts from his Truth Social.

“He did it eventually,” wrote one user. “Took him long enough, guess someone finally got through to him,” wrote another.

Some users expressed support for Trump, with comments like “They really be trying to take him down” and “Trump SUBMITTED to Merchan.”

Others criticized the situation, with one user writing, “Fascism by the Biden donating Judge to suppress Trump’s free speech while Michael Cohen goes on blue anon shows to trash Trump.”

Some users dismissed the situation with humor, with one writing, “We already saw them tho.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.