Judge tells Trump lawyer he is 'losing all credibility'

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial has told Trump’s lawyer he is “losing all credibility” as he considers whether the former president should be punished for violating a gag order that prevents him from publicly criticising witnesses and others involved in the case.

Prosecutors asked Justice Juan Merchan to fine Trump $US10,000 ($A15,415) for violating the order. Defence lawyer Todd Blanche argued that Trump should not be punished for responding to political attacks. Merchan said he would not immediately rule on the prosecution’s request.

At a hearing to consider the issue, Merchan appeared to grow frustrated after Blanche did not provide specific examples of the attacks to which Trump was said to be responding. The judge said Blanche he had neither case law nor evidence to back up his argument.

“You’ve presented nothing,” Merchan said.

“I’ve asked you eight or nine times, show me the exact post he was responding to. You’ve not even been able to do that once.

“Mr Blanche, you’re losing all credibility. I have to tell you right now, you’re losing all credibility with the court.”

The judge’s gag order prevents Trump from publicly criticising witnesses, court officials and their relatives. Trump has said it is a violation of his constitutional free speech rights.

New York prosecutor Christopher Conroy said Trump has run afoul of the order with posts on his Truth Social platform.

“Defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped,” Conroy told Merchan.

“The court should now hold him in contempt.”

Conroy pointed to an April 10 post that called porn star Stormy Daniels and his former lawyer Michael Cohen “sleazebags.” Both are expected to testify in the first criminal trial of a former US president. Conroy said other posts led to media coverage that prompted a juror last week to withdraw over privacy concerns.

“He knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway,” Conroy said of Trump.

“His disobedience of the order is wilful. It’s intentional.”

The fine sought by Conroy would be a relatively small penalty for Trump, who has posted $US266.6 million ($A411.0 million) in bonds as he appeals civil judgements in two other cases.

Conroy said he was not at this point asking Merchan to send Trump to jail for up to 30 days, as New York law allows.

“The defendant seems to be angling for that,” Conroy said.

Blanche said his posts were responses to political attacks by Cohen and not related to his former lawyer’s expected testimony.

“He’s allowed to respond to political attacks,” Blanche said.

Trump was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with falsifying business records to cover up a $US130,000 ($A200,398) payment shortly before the 2016 US election to buy the silence of Daniels about a sexual encounter she has said they had in 2006. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies such an encounter took place.

Prosecutors have said it was part of a wider conspiracy to hide unflattering information from voters at a time when he was facing multiple accusations of sexual misbehaviour.

In his opening statement on Monday, defence lawyer Todd Blanche said Trump did not commit any crimes. Blanche said Trump acted to protect his family and his reputation and accused Daniels of trying to profit from false accusations.

On Tuesday, jurors are expected to hear more testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who prosecutors say participated in a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress unflattering stories about Trump and help him get elected.

Pecker, 72, testified on Monday that his company paid for stories - an unusual practice in journalism.

Trump has said the payments were personal and did not violate election law.

The case may be the only one of the Republican Trump’s four criminal prosecutions to go to trial before his November 5 election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.

A guilty verdict would not bar Trump from taking office but it could hurt his candidacy. Reuters/Ipsos polling shows that half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for Trump if he is convicted of a crime.