Donald Trump was using a one-day break from his hush money trial on Wednesday to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order.
His remarks will be closely watched after he received a 9,000 US dollar (£7,185) fine for making public statements about people connected to the case.
In imposing the fine for posts on the former president’s Truth Social account and campaign website, Judge Juan M Merchan said that if Mr Trump continues to violate his orders, he “will impose an incarceratory punishment”.
Mr Trump is trying to achieve a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while also fighting felony charges in New York.
He frequently goes after Judge Merchan, prosecutors and potential witnesses at his rallies and on social media, attack lines that play well with his supporters but that have potentially put him in legal jeopardy.
He insists he is merely exercising his free speech rights, but the offending posts from his Truth Social account and campaign website were taken down.
Judge Merchan is weighing other alleged gag-order violations by Mr Trump and will hear arguments on Thursday.
The former president appeared frustrated after the ninth day of the trial came to an end, saying he should be out in Georgia and New Hampshire instead of sitting in court.
“They don’t want me on the campaign trail,” he told reporters.
Mr Trump has often called this case and other criminal cases against him “election interference”, saying they keep him from campaigning for the presidential election in November.
The gagging order bars him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his hush money case.
Manhattan prosecutors have argued that he and his associates took part in an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by purchasing and then burying stories. He has pleaded not guilty.
Mr Trump’s visits to Wisconsin and Michigan mark his second trip to the swing states in a month.
For the last rallies, the former president largely focused on immigration, referring to people who are in the US illegally and who are suspected of crimes as “animals”.
Wisconsin and Michigan are among a handful of battleground states expected to decide the 2024 election.
For Mr Trump to win both states, he must do well in suburban areas like those outside Milwaukee and Saginaw, Michigan, where he will hold Wednesday’s rallies.
He under-performed in suburban areas during this year’s primary even though he dominated the Republican field overall.
Mr Trump has repeatedly falsely said that the 2020 election was stolen from him. His losses in battleground states in 2020 have withstood recounts, audits and reviews by the Justice Department and outside observers.