The Facts
The judge overseeing Donald Trump's New York civil fraud trial fined the former president $5K and threatened "serious sanctions" — including jail time — on Friday after Trump allegedly violated the gag order barring him from speaking about the court’s staff.
The apparent violation consisted of Trump failing to remove a social media post about Judge Arthur Engoron's clerk.
The Spin
Pro-Trump narrative
Trump shouldn't be punished or imprisoned for violating this ridiculous gag order. The post in question was removed from Truth Social soon after the judge ordered it to be, and it was an unintentional mistake that it was left up on his campaign website. His campaign is a complex machine with many moving parts, and this just fell through the cracks. Even just the consideration of jail time is absurd.
Anti-Trump narrative
The gag order was put in place because Trump was making incendiary and untrue statements about the court staff in this case, which could have led to dangerous physical harm. Even if leaving the post up was accidental, Trump is still ultimately responsible for what appears on his website. Trump is not above the law, and this serious violation of a gag order deserves sanctions.
