Jerry Province: NY authorities arrest man for 'disturbing proceedings' of Donald Trump's ongoing trial

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: New York City authorities apprehended a man in the hallway outside former President Trump's ongoing trial on Tuesday, April 23, saying the man had disturbed court proceedings.

The man, identified as Jerry Province, was taken into custody just before 10 am. Police said he had refused to comply with multiple verbal orders before his arrest, per Fox News.

Authorities have issued a statement after the arrest of Jerry Province

"The male individual failed to follow the instructions of New York State Court officers and was standing up and disturbing proceedings in overflow room 1523 at 100 Centre Street. He repeatedly failed to comply with the verbal commands of officers and was taken into custody and issued a summons for disorderly conduct and released," police said in a statement.

Province reportedly has "several prior arrests throughout the city," the outlet reports.

Judge Juan Merchan's stern warning to Donald Trump's legal team

Judge Juan Merchan told President Donald Trump’s defense team they were "losing all credibility" during a Tuesday hearing on whether the 45th president violated a gag order in the Manhattan criminal trial.

"I have to tell you right now, you’re losing all credibility in the court," Merchan told Trump's attorney Todd Blanche.

Tuesday’s court proceedings started with Merchan hearing the prosecution's request that Trump be held in contempt for violating a gag order that bans him from speaking publicly about witnesses and family members of court officials.

Merchan imposed the gag order on Trump before the trial began, ordering him to abstain from making comments or directing others to make comments, regarding witnesses’ potential participation or the prosecution team. The gag order does allow Trump to speak about District Attorney Alvin Bragg publicly. 

Donald Trump allegedly violated the gag order 10 times

The DA’s office last week argued that Trump violated the order on several occasions, including on social media, and argued he should pay a $1,000 fine each for a handful of the instances. Prosecutors alleged on Tuesday that Trump violated the order a total of 10 times.

Donald Trump's defense says the former president was responding to the political comments

The defense team argued in the hearing that Trump was responding to attacks when he made comments allegedly violating the order.

Merchan pressed Blanche to provide instances of where Trump was responding to a specific incident.

"I’ve asked you 8 or 9 times, ‘show me the exact post that he was responding to’ and you haven’t been able to do that once," Merchan said. 

The defense team argued that Trump did not violate the order and should not face penalties. 

Donald Trump took at swipe at Judge Juan Merchan and the gag order violation accusations

Trump has repeatedly slammed the gag order as "unconstitutional" and a tool used to silence him.  

"Judge Juan Merchan, who is suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (whose daughter represents Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and other Radical Liberals, has just posted a picture of me behind bars, her obvious goal, and makes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial) has now issued another illegal, un-American, unConstitutional ‘order,’ as he continues to try and take away my Rights," Trump posted on Truth Social last month after he was given a gag order limiting what he could publicly say about the case.