A prosecutor in Donald Trump's hush money trial has claimed the former president is trying to be jailed for contempt of court.
Attorney Chris Conroy made his comments on Tuesday as Judge Juan Merchan considered whether Trump had violated a gag order.
Conroy told Merchan: "We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty. Defendant seems to be angling for that."
The comment was posted on X, formerly Twitter by Adam Klasfeld, a fellow at the Just Security think tank, who was in court.
Trump's attorney has been asked for comment by Newsweek.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is seeking to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal not to disclose his alleged affairs with them, thereby influencing voters as to his character, then falsified records.
He denies affairs with either woman. Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump to stop him from commenting about jurors or potential witnesses in the case.
According to prosecutors, Trump has violated the gag order ten times, from statements made to the media outside the courthouse to comments made on Trump's social media site, Truth Social.
On Tuesday, Merchan delayed the start of proceedings while he heard from prosecutors and defense lawyers on the alleged gag order violation, a discussion held in the absence of the jury.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche told Merchan that Trump does not know what the gag order allows him to do and not do. Prosecutors say they don't want Trump jailed but want Merchan to fine him $1,000 for each violation.
Merchan said that he would give a written ruling on the alleged gag order violation at a later date or he may make a paperless ruling from the bench.
This isn't the first time that Trump has been accused of deliberately trying to stir up controversy during a trial.
In January, during the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, Judge Lewis Kaplan accused Trump of commenting loudly on the evidence so he could get himself removed from the court.
"I hope I don't have to consider excluding you from the trial," Kaplan told Trump. "I understand you're probably very eager for me to do that."
Trump retorted: "I would love it."
Kaplan replied: "I know you would. You just can't control yourself in these circumstances, apparently."
Later that month, a jury decided that Trump must pay Carroll $83.3 million for claiming she had invented sexual assault allegations. Carroll had claimed that Trump had sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
Trump has denied all allegations and is seeking to appeal.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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