Trump's Trials - Trump fined $9,000 for violating gag order in hush money trial

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

For this episode of Trump's Trials, All Things Considered host Juana Summers speaks with political reporter Ximena Bustillo.Judge Juan Merchan fined former President Donald Trump $9,000 for violating a gag order that prohibited him from speaking out about potential witnesses and others involved in his hush money trial. Jurors also heard from four witnesses as testimony continues in the trial. Topics include:- The gag order against Trump- Testimonies of Gary Farro, Robert Browning, Phillip Thompson and Keith Davidson- What's next when proceedings pick back up on Thursday Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for new episodes each Saturday.Sign up for sponsor-free episodes and support NPR's political journalism at plus.npr.org/trumpstrials.Email the show at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's Trials from NPR. I'm Scott Detro. We love Trump! This is a persecution. He actually just stormed out of the courtroom. We love him! Innocent till proven guilty in a court of law. Our regular episodes come out every Saturday, but there's some news in one of former President Trump's cases today.

So we're going to share a story that just aired on NPR, and then we'll be back with more in our usual episode on Saturday. Thanks for listening. In this country, more than two local newspapers are closing down each week. As news deserts grow, public radio is a lifeline for staying informed. Keep that service strong with a donation to the NPR network at donate.npr.org. And thank you. The Indicator from Planet Money is a daily podcast that helps you make sense of what's happening in the economy. And video games are a growing slice of that economy, with

billions of people around the world identifying as gamers. That's why we're dedicating a week-long series to the growing business of video games. Listen to the Indicator for Planet Money podcast on NPR. You're listening to Trump's Trials. I'm Scott Detro. And now, here's Juana Sommers. $9,000.

That's how much Judge Juan Marchand fined former President Trump for violating a gag order that prohibited him from speaking out about potential witnesses and others. Meanwhile, testimony continued in Trump's hush money trial and jurors heard from four witnesses. Joining us now to tell us about all of this is NPR politics reporter Jimena Bustillo, who has been covering the trial for us. Hi there. Jimena Bustillo, NPR politics reporter, NPR politics reporter, NPR politics reporter, Jimena Bustillo, who has been covering the trial for us. Hi there. Jimena, before we get into the witnesses and what happened today, $9,000, it just doesn't

seem like a whole lot for Trump, who we know was a real estate mogul before he became president, does it? That's right. And Judge Juan Marchand said as much in his order, noting that, quote, criminal contempt is punishable by a fine just not exceeding $1,000, by jail not exceeding 30 days, or by both in the discretion of the court. And Mershawn also warned Trump that the court won't tolerate more violations, and that if necessary and appropriate, he will consider jail time as a necessary punishment. Now, it is worth pointing out that this would be unprecedented. No current

or former president has been found guilty of anything, let alone jailed. But we're also in very unprecedented times because this is the first criminal trial against the sitting or former president. One more thing, there's another gag order hearing on Thursday to discuss what prosecutors are saying are further violations by Trump of the order against him. And Jimena, what else did this order have to say? Well, Trump was ordered to pay those $9,000 for nine violating posts by Friday, May 3rd, and removed the seven offending posts from Truth Social account and two posts from his campaign website by 2.15 p.m. today, which he did.

Okay, on to what happened in court today. Jurors also heard from several witnesses. What were the big takeaways? We first heard from Gary Farrow. He's a former banker for First Republic Bank, the bank where Michael Cohen opened the accounts that would facilitate the payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, and Karen McDougall, a Playboy model. To wrap up Farrow's testimony, Trump's lawyer Todd Blanch continued laying the groundwork for what will likely be arguments aimed

at discrediting Cohen. In testimony, Farrow said that Cohen was difficult to work with and that the bank wouldn't have opened the accounts if they knew what they would have ultimately been used for. The jurors quickly heard from two more witnesses also, Robert Browning, a C-SPAN executive, and Philip Thompson of Esquire Deposition Solutions. Both of these witnesses were on for a very short time and were there to verify videos and transcripts. This was the first time the jury heard Trump's voice in the courtroom. Clips of him at rallies and a press conference from 2016 and 2017 played in which

Trump denied allegations about him from women and calling Cohen a talented lawyer. Jimena, I understand that we also heard today from Keith Davidson, another key witness. What did he have to say? Davidson was formerly a lawyer for both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. In testimony, he detailed how he negotiated McDougal's and Daniel's payments. They both alleged affairs with Trump. And the jury saw text messages between Davidson and leadership at American Media Inc, which published the National Esquire, and emails with Cohen. Now last week, jurors heard from David Pecker, who ran AMI.

And if we remember, Pecker described how his editors would report back stories that they heard about Trump and would report that to Cohen. And in some instances like this one, would negotiate a payment to kill the story. Davidson worked with an editor at AMI and Cohen directly. Davidson also testified that he knew AMI was buying the stories to not run them.

And that would benefit the Trump campaign efforts efforts even if he didn't know about a specific deal that was being made between the other men. Trump also watched this testimony jurors turned to Trump and the legal teams as it was happening and this was the first day that a member of the Trump family, his son Eric was in the room. Last thing, Jimena, no trial tomorrow proceedings will resume on Thursday. What should we expect then? Well, Davidson's not done. So his testimony will pick back up after the hearing on those alleged gag order violations. NPR's Jimena Bustillo, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to Trump's Trials from NPR. Keep an eye out for more episodes like

this whenever big news happens. And we'll be back later this week with our rake of the show on Saturday. I'm Scott Tetreault. If you've never donated to the NPR Network before, that's OK. Public radio is available to everyone for free. But we do rely on listener support from those who are able to give. So join the community of supporters for public media giving days. Coming up on May 1st and 2nd, please give at donate.npr.org and thank you. I'm Jesse Thorne. Why did Coloscola write a bonkers, extremely fictionalized play about

Mary Todd Lincoln? Well, you know, it was 2020 and we were all so isolated. I just started doing research. But the truth is, no, I just thought of it. We'll talk about that and more on Bullseye from MaximumFun.org and NPR. The indicator from Planet Money is all in on video games. Not just because they're a fun hobby,

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