WAUKESHA, Wis. — WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump will use a one-day break from his hush money trial Wednesday to rally voters in battleground states Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time before the violating a gag order.
His comments will be closely watched after he was fined $9,000 for making public statements about people involved in the case. In imposing the fine for posts on Trump’s Truth Social account and campaign website, Judge Juan M. Merchan said that if Trump continues to violate his orders, he “will impose a prison sentence.”
The former president is attempting to pull off a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while simultaneously fighting felony charges in New York. Trump often goes after Merchan, prosecutors and potential witnesses at his rallies and on social media, using lines of attack that suit his supporters but may have put him in legal jeopardy.
Trump insists he is merely exercising his right to free speech, but the offensive posts have been removed from his Truth Social account and campaign website. Merchan is weighing other alleged violations of the gag order by Trump and will hear arguments Thursday.
Trump appeared frustrated after the ninth day of the trial ended, saying he should go to Georgia and New Hampshire instead of sitting in the courtroom.
“They don’t want me on the campaign trail,” he told reporters.
Trump has often called this case and other criminal cases against him “election interference,” saying they are preventing him from campaigning in November’s presidential election.
The gag order prohibited him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others related to his hush money case.
Prosecutors in Manhattan have argued that Trump and his associates participated in an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by buying and then burying stories. He has pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s visits to Wisconsin and Michigan mark his second trip to the swing states in just a month. During the latest rallies, the former president focused largely on immigration, calling people living in the U.S. illegally and suspected of crimes “animals.”
Wisconsin and Michigan are among a handful of battleground states expected to decide the 2024 election.
For Trump to win both states, he must do well in suburban areas such as those outside Milwaukee and Saginaw, Michigan, where he will hold rallies on Wednesday. He underperformed in the suburbs during this year’s primaries even as he dominated the Republican field overall.
Trump has repeatedly falsely said the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump’s losses in battleground states in 2020 have withstood recounts, audits and reviews by the Justice Department and outside observers.
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Gomez Licon reported from Miami and Price reported from Freeland, Michigan.