Trump faces potential punishment for violating gag order as hush money trial resumes

NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Tuesday is expected to be threatened with thousands of dollars in fines — and potentially jail time — for denigrating anticipated witnesses and jurors in his hush-money case in violation of a gag order.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan is expected to hear arguments from prosecutors requesting that the former president be held in criminal contempt for almost a dozen violations of his order prohibiting him from publicly attacking trial participants in the last week alone.

The DA’s office has requested thousands of dollars in sanctions for Trump’s violations, including disseminating comments by Fox News host Jesse Watters that disparaged potential jurors. Gag order violations can result in jail time.

The chief target of numerous of Trump’s offending posts has been his former right-hand-turned-bitter enemy, Michael Cohen, the subject of articles Trump shared on his social media site calling him a liar. Cohen, slated to be the trial’s star witness, hasn’t taken the comments sitting down, disparaging his former boss on Monday as “VonSh–zInPantz.”

What to expect Tuesday

Prosecutors and Trump’s defense have delivered their opening statements to the jury, and now the Manhattan district attorney’s case against Trump is underway.

The DA’s first witness is David Pecker, the former longtime tabloid publisher who’s long admitted to helping carry out a hush-money scheme to bag Trump the presidency in 2016.

Pecker briefly took the stand Monday — managing to read his phone number into the record accidentally — and is expected to delve into his role in the case for a few hours on Tuesday.

What the jury has heard so far

In the prosecution’s opening argument, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said Trump devised the hush money scheme soon after he launched his first bid for the presidency at an August 2015 Trump Tower meeting with Cohen and Pecker, which involved silencing a porn star, pinup model and a Trump Tower doorman.

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