Politics

Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money trial said the former president violated a gag order 10 times, but they did not seek jail time as a sanction.

During a Tuesday morning hearing, Assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy explained how Trump had attacked jurors, prospective jurors, and potential witnesses.

“What happened here is precisely what this order was designed to prevent, and the defendant doesn't care,” Conroy explained. “We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty, yet the defendant seems to be angling for that."

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Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, appeared to be defiant.

"Just to set the record very straight and clear: Pres. Trump does, in fact, know what the gag order allows him to do and not allow him to do," Blanche told New York Justice Juan Merchan.

It was not clear when Merchan would rule on the violations.

From inside the courtroom on Tuesday, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin revealed that Judge Juan Merchan was "losing his patience" with Donald Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche.

In a testy morning hearing into whether Trump has violated a gag order put in place to stop him attacking members of the jury and witnesses, the judge reamed off examples of attacks — with likely witnesses in his targets including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, among others.

Blanche, meanwhile, tried to explain away Trump's actions.

Rubin explained from the courtroom that the judge asked Blanche to give him an example of Trump's intentions in one of his posts, and he consistently failed to do so, leading Merchan to react.

"Judge Merchan is losing his patience," MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard said, reading text messages from Rubin. Merchan is "accusing Blanche of not answering his questions. So we're just three social media posts through the ten, and Judge Merchan is clearly frustrated with the attorney for Donald Trump's lack of ability to articulate on behalf of his own client his intention with those social media statements."

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"I am asking a question," Merchan said, according to Rubin. "I keep asking you over and over to give me an example, and I'm not getting an answer."

Merchan went on to say that it was 10:30 a.m., and they'd been debating "for an hour now, and he's looking for an answer."

See the report below or at the link here.

'You’re not giving me an answer': Judge loses his patience with Trump lawyer youtu.be