'Lock him up': Internet weighs in as Donald Trump fined $9K for violating gag order in hush money trial

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Donald Trump has been slapped with a fine of $9000 for repeatedly violating the gag order in his ongoing hush money trial.

Judge Juan Merchan issued the order, finding the former president in contempt of court for his frequent public attacks against the trial witnesses on his Truth Social platform, according to The Guardian.

Judge threatens Donald Trump with jail if he keeps violating gag order

The ruling comes moments before the second week of witness testimony which began on Tuesday, April 30.

A brief order from the judge was issued from the bench, finding Trump in contempt of court and ordering $1,000 fines for his nine offending social media posts.

According to his written order, Judge Merchan wrote that Trump faces the prospect of an “incarceratory punishment” if he keeps his “willful violations” of the court’s order.

He also hinted that Trump could face severe sanctions if the fines fail to deter him.

“While $1,000 may suffice in most instances to protect the dignity of the judicial system to compel respect for its mandates and to punish the offender for disobeying a court order, it, unfortunately, will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the contemnor can easily afford such a fine,” the judge wrote.

“In those circumstances, it would be preferable if the court could impose a fine more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor,” he continued.

“In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000. Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment," he added.

Donald Trump is required to delete his nine offending social media posts

As per the ruling, Trump is required to delete the offending posts by Tuesday afternoon, April 30, and must pay the $9,000 fine by Friday, May 3, according to the report.

Manhattan prosecutors accused the former president of breaching the gag order in the hush money trial at least 10 times, alleging that he targeted key witnesses including adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen in his posts on his website and his Truth Social platform.

The hush money trial against the 77-year-old businessman stemmed from allegations that he falsified business records to conceal payments to Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affairs before the 2016 presidential election.

Internet reacts to Donald Trump being fined over gag order violation

Reacting to the judge ordering Trump to pay a fine amount of $9000 over the gag order violation, a user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, "Anyone else would have been in jail several violations ago. I’m really tired of him getting “one more last chance” over and over again."

"He is a citizen who is committing violations of court orders. Lock him up," a netizen commented.

One user wrote, "He is doing it deliberately. He thinks being thrown in jail is going to win him the trial and the election."

"They basically just put a price tag on it. So now Trump knows how to budget for the gag order violations. He's not going to stop," a user tweeted while another user wrote, "Don't know but this will not silence Trump!"

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