Donald Trump has been fined $5,000 (£4,100) for failing to delete an “untrue and disparaging” claim online about a court clerk in his New York civil fraud case.
The former US president had earlier been threatened with jail over the post.
Judge Arthur Engoron issued the penalty after previously warning Trump he could be imprisoned for breaking a gagging order which banned those involved in the case from making public comments about members of his staff.
The court is currently hearing a civil case over accusations that Trump committed fraud for years while building his property portfolio by inflating his assets and net worth in return for favourable bank loans, as well as lower insurance premiums.
Prosecutors are seeking at least $250m (£205m) in fines and a permanent ban against Trump and his sons Donald Jr and Eric from running businesses in New York.
The gagging order was issued earlier this month after Donald Trump published a post on his social network site Truth Social about the woman, in which he suggested she had a personal relationship with Democrat Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.
Judge Engoron issued the order and demanded Trump delete the “untrue, disparaging and personally identifying post” from Truth Social, which he did within 10 minutes, according to court documents.
However, it emerged on Friday that it remained visible on the Republican’s official 2024 presidential campaign website for a further 17 days.
Trump’s legal team apologised and said it had been an “inadvertent” mistake that no-one on his team had deleted it.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump sues ex-spy over ‘sexual act’ claims
10 things we learnt from TV interview about Trump’s plans
How much does Donald Trump claim his assets are worth?
The former president is on trial over fraud allegations
But Judge Engoron warned that “in the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical warm, and worse”.
In a written ruling, he said he was “way beyond the ‘warning’ stage”, but decided on a nominal fine because the violation of the gagging order had been unintentional and was a “first-time violation”.
However, he added: “Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him.”
Trump denies wrongdoing in the fraud case and has described the trial as “rigged”. He has also claimed it was brought to court by a “radical lunatic” prosecutor.
Judge Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his company committed fraud, but the trial has continued to decide on remaining accusations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records.
Iran says “indirect talks” over the country’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme have taken place with US officials, with more to come next week.
The discussions on Saturday took place in Muscat, Oman, with the host nation’s officials mediating between representatives of Iran and the US, who were seated in separate rooms, according to Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry.
After the talks concluded, Oman and Iranian officials reported that Iran and the US had had agreed to hold more negotiations next week.
Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi tweeted after the meeting, thanking Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for joining the negotiations aimed at “global peace, security and stability”.
“We will continue to work together and put further efforts to assist in arriving at this goal,” he added.
(L-R) Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi meets his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. Pic: Iranian foreign ministry/AP
Iranian state media claimed the US and Iranian officials “briefly spoke in the presence of the Omani foreign minister” at the end of the talks – a claim Mr Araghchi echoed in a statement on Telegram.
He added the talks took place in a “constructive atmosphere based on mutual respect” and that they would continue next week.
American officials did not immediately acknowledge the reports from Iran.
Mr Araghchi said before the meeting on Saturday there was a “chance for initial understanding on further negotiations if the other party [US] enters the talks with an equal stance”.
He told Iran’s state TV: “Our intention is to reach a fair and honourable agreement – from an equal footing.
“And if the other side has also entered from the same position, God willing, there will be a chance for an initial agreement that can lead to a path of negotiations.”
Reuters news agency said an Omani source told it the talks were focused on de-escalating regional tensions, prisoner exchanges and limited agreements to ease sanctions in exchange for controlling Iran’s nuclear programme.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump on Monday: ‘We’re in direct talks with Iran’
President Donald Trump has insisted Tehran cannot get nuclear weapons.
He said on Monday that the talks would be direct, but Tehran officials insisted it would be conducted through an intermediary.
Mr Trump also warned Iran would be in “great danger” if negotiations fail.
“Hopefully those talks will be successful, it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful,” he said. “We hope that’s going to happen.”
He added Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran”.
The comments came after Mr Trump’s previous warnings of possible military action against Iran if there is no deal over its nuclear programme.
Read more:
Trump undergoes annual medical check-up
Polish president backs Trump over Ukraine
Saturday’s meeting marked the first between the countries since Mr Trump’s second term in the White House began.
During his first term, he withdrew the US from a deal between Iran and world powers designed to curb Iran’s nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief.
He also reimposed US sanctions.
Iran has since far surpassed that deal’s limits on uranium enrichment.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes but Western powers accuse it of having a clandestine agenda.
Mr Witkoff came from talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday, as the US tries to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the US, an immigration judge has ruled.
Mr Khalil, a postgraduate student at Columbia University’s school of international and public affairs, has been a prominent figure in the university’s pro-Palestinian student protest movement.
The 30-year-old has held a US permanent residency green card since 2024 and his wife is a US citizen.
Mahmoud Khalil. Pic: AP
Mr Khalil was detained at his Columbia apartment building in Manhattan on 8 March, as agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told him his student visa had been revoked.
It marked the first arrest in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza.
Mr Khalil, who acted as a mediator between protesters and university officials during pro-Palestinian demonstrations at New York’s Columbia University last year, is not accused of breaking any laws.
But the Trump administration says noncitizens who participate in demonstrations like he has should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas”.
On Friday, immigration judge Jamee E Comans ruled that the government had the right to deport him, saying its belief that his presence posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation.
Mr Khalil, centre, surrounded by reporters outside the Columbia University campus in April last year. Pic: AP
He said the government had “established by clear and convincing evidence that he is removable”.
Mr Khalil’s lawyers have said they plan to fight the ruling via the Board of Immigration Appeals and can also pursue an asylum case on his behalf.
The judge gave them until 23 April to seek a waiver.
Read more:
Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing to go ahead next week
US envoy meets Putin for talks on Ukraine war
His lawyer Marc van der Hout said after the ruling: “Today, we saw our worst fears play out: Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponisation of immigration law to suppress dissent.”
Mr Khalil, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and holds Algerian citizenship, remains in the Louisiana immigration detention centre where federal authorities transferred him after his arrest.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Jewish protesters against war in Gaza chant ‘Bring Mahmoud home now’
His defence team has said it is seeking a preliminary injunction from the federal court in New Jersey, which would release him from custody and could block the Trump administration from arresting and detaining people for supporting Palestinian people in Gaza.
The Trump administration has been cracking down on pro-Palestinian protesters at universities across the country.
After his arrest last month, the president said: “This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump administration will not tolerate it.”
There have also been protests over the arrest of Mr Khalil, including by a Jewish group against the war in Gaza who stormed Trump Tower in New York last month.
Local police said 98 were arrested on charges including trespassing, obstruction and resisting arrest.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway