Prison next? Trump attacked the judge (again) but quickly deleted him. Here’s what he said.

Just a day after Donald Trump was warned by the judge in his New York criminal trial that he would face prison time if he continued to violate his gag order, the former president posted on social media about today’s witness – but then quickly deleted it .

Judge Juan Merchan slapped Trump on Monday with another contempt of court charge for violating the gag order that, among other things, prevents Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses in his hush-money trial.

Trump posted on Truth Social: “I was just recently told who today’s witness is. This is unprecedented, the lawyers have no time to prepare. Never before has a judge conducted a trial in such a biased and partial manner. He is crooked and highly conflicted and even takes away my First Amendment rights. Now he’s threatening me with prison and they have no case – that’s the opinion of virtually every legal scholar and expert! Why isn’t the fake news media covering his conflict?”

The witness he was referring to is Stormy Daniels, who was at the center of the criminal case.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

A confidentiality agreement prohibits Trump from publicly commenting on witnesses, jurors and others connected to the matter.

But the order does not stop Trump from speaking about the allegations against him or from commenting on the judge or the elected chief prosecutor. And despite a recent remark from Trump, that doesn’t stop him from testifying in court if he wants.

Generally, a gag order is an order from a judge that prohibits one or more people involved in a legal proceeding from commenting publicly on some or all aspects of the proceeding. In Trump’s case, it is titled “Order Restricting Extrajudicial Speech,” where “extrajudicial” means out of court.

Particularly in high-profile cases, the aim is to prevent information presented outside of a courtroom from having an impact on what happens in the courtroom.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of his alleged attempt to unearth salacious — and, he says, false — stories about his sex life during his 2016 campaign. On Monday, Trump called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case a “fraud” and a “witch hunt.”

The indictment centers on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen. He paid this amount on Trump’s behalf to stop porn actress Daniels from going public with her claims about a sexual encounter with Trump a decade ago. Trump has denied that a sexual encounter ever occurred.

Prosecutors allege the payments to Cohen were falsely recorded as legal fees. Prosecutors have described it as part of a plan to cover up damaging stories that Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 election campaign, especially as Trump’s reputation suffered at the time because of his comments about women.

Trump has admitted that he reimbursed Cohen for the payment and that it was intended to keep Daniels from going public about the alleged encounter. But Trump has previously said it had nothing to do with the campaign.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today NJ.com.

Matt Arco can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.