The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal trial said on Monday he would hold the former president in contempt of court for a 10th time for violating a gag order and said he would consider jailing him for further violations.

Merchan said jail time would be a last resort and one that he was trying to avoid at all costs. But he said Trump's "continued, wilful" violations of the gag order amounted to a “direct attack on the rule of law.”

"I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so. But I will if necessary," Merchan said from the bench in the absence of the jury.

Merchan spoke as Trump sat at the defendant's table in the New York courtroom in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Source: India Today