Huh. Bit of a sensational start to today’s criminal proceedings. Trump has just been dinged with nine counts of criminal contempt of court (the judge dismissed one) based on his continued social media postings about witnesses, the court’s family etc. Notably the judge said in his written decision that his ability to fine is capped at $1000 per count, which is meaningless in the context of someone with a very high net worth. The judge has explicitly reminded and cautioned that he might impose jail for further instances of contempt. He was also careful to note that if a given witness or witnesses themselves act such as to show they don’t need the protection of the order, that he could amend it.
It’ll be interesting to see if Trump’s counsel are able to get him to wind it in a bit.
The contempt proceedings all happen out of view of the jury and don’t form part of the criminal case, FWIW.
Eight page decision here:
https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/D.O.motion4contempt-FINAL.pdf