This comes as the judge considered 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.
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial on Tuesday told the lawyer representing the former U.S. President that he is "losing all credibility" in the defence of his client.
This comes as the judge considered 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 $10,000 for violating the order, Reuters reports. But the 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 Trump’s lawyer did not have evidence to support 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 added.
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 the judge. "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."
Daniels and Cohen are expected to testify in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. 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 willful. It's intentional."
The $10,000 fine sought by Conroy would be a relatively small penalty for Trump, who has posted $266.6 million in bonds as he appeals civil judgments 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.