US ex-President Trump fined for breaching gag order

NEW YORK -- Former US President Donald Trump was fined $9,000 for violating a gag order nine times this month, according to an order by a New York judge on Tuesday morning.

Trump also was ordered to remove seven offending posts from his Truth Social account and two offending posts from his campaign website by Tuesday afternoon.

The court found Trump in criminal contempt for willfully disobeying its lawful mandate on nine separate occasions, said the order, signed by Juan Merchan, acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court in New York County.

The court will not tolerate continued willfull violations of its lawful orders and if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment, warned Merchan, who oversees the on-going trial on Trump's falsifying business records in a bid to hide hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

Merchan issued the gag order on March 26 barring Trump from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in the criminal trial.

The criminal trial against Trump started on April 15 and is expected to last six to eight weeks.