(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump is back in court Thursday for a hearing on whether he will face more sanctions for violating a gag order connected to his hush money trial.
Judge Juan M. Merchan already ruled earlier this week that Trump violated the gag order, which prohibits him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors, and others connected to his criminal trial, nine separate times. Trump on Tuesday was fined $9,000 for these violations.
On Thursday, prosecutors are seeking $1,000 fines for four other comments made by the former president.
Following the contempt hearing, the court is expected to hear from attorney Keith Davidson, who represented two women who have said they had sexual encounters with Trump.
The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and arranging hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. These payments were allegedly aimed at concealing a sexual encounter the two reportedly had.
For his part, Trump has been campaigning in his off-hours but is required to be in court when it is in session, four days a week. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
Before court resumed Thursday, Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the 2024 election, talked about rallies he had in Michigan and Wisconsin, saying it was nice to campaign for one day without being at what he called a “ridiculous” show trial.
After making comments about inflation, interest rates and the price of gasoline, Trump said the case should have been brought eight years ago and not during election season.
“They wait until I announce, and then they start their action,” Trump said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is developing. Refresh for updates.