After multiple delays, former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial began Monday with jury selection as he faces 34 felony counts in a New York court for falsifying business records. With Trump in the courtroom, prosecutors alleged that Trump violated an April 1 gag order not to make salacious comments about the Judge Juan Merchan's family on social media. They requested that Trump be fined a total of $3,000 for the alleged violations. "We know that from various posts he had made, prosecutor Christopher Conroy said, according to a pool report of the hearing. We think it is important for the court to remind Mr. Trump is a criminal defendant." Trump attorney Todd Blanche said that Trump did not violate the gag order and that he was "responding to salacious, repeated, vehement attacks by these witnesses." Merchan said he will hear arguments over whether Trump violated the gag order on April 24. The judge is giving Trump's attorneys until Friday to formally respond to Conroy's allegations.
