CHUGGING ALONG

Trump Trial Prosecutors Share When They Plan to Wrap Up

New York prosecutors indicated on Monday that they plan to wrap up halfway through the week of May 20.

Donald Trump’s New York trial is chugging along on schedule, with prosecutors indicating on Monday that they plan to wrap up halfway through the week of May 20. Justice Juan Merchan for the first time asked for an update Monday afternoon, and Manhattan assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass said they’ll be done within a little over two weeks. That means the former president’s first criminal trial will probably last through the entire month of May—keeping the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate off the campaign trail longer than he’d hoped. Earlier on Monday morning Merchan found Trump to be in contempt for violating a standing gag order for a tenth time—handing the former president yet another $1,000 fine. Marchan also said in no uncertain terms that he would send Trump to jail if he violates the gag order again. “Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan said, before expressing his reticence to do so. “Mr. Trump, it’s important to understand the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next one as well.”