Trump threatened with jail after violating hush money gag order again

• "Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction," Merchan said Monday.
• "The last thing I want to do is put you in jail," Merchan said. "You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well."

Driving the news: Merchan warned that Trump's "continued willful violations of this court's orders threaten the administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law."

• "I cannot allow that to continue," Merchan said.
• The fine on Monday was in connection with a phone interview Trump did last month with the far-right outlet, Real America's Voice, in which Trump said that the "jury was picked so fast — 95% Democrats." Trump added that "it's a very unfair situation."
• The gag order restricts Trump from commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors involved in the case.

What they're saying: Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that Merchan's warning to jail Trump if he violates the gag order is "authoritarian."

• Cheung called the gag order on Trump "unconstitutional and un-American," per CNN.

State of play: Merchan's ruling comes less than a week after Trump had been fined $9,000 for nine other violations of the gag order.

• Prosecutors have argued that Trump has repeatedly violated the gag order in the case, including through Trump's social media posts that appear to attack key witnesses in the case.
• Merchan during the hearing last week warned that he would "impose an incarceratory punishment" if Trump continued to violate the gag order in the case.
• The judge said Monday that the security and other steps that would be needed to jail Trump "would be disruptive to these proceedings."

Go deeper: Trump's social media posts follow him to courthouse

Editor's note: This story was updated with additional comments from the hearing and from Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.