Judge alters Trump’s gag order, letting him talk about witnesses, jury after hush money conviction
NEW YORK — A judge changed Tuesday Donald Trump’s silence order, which gives the former president the freedom to publicly comment on witnesses and jurors in the hush-money criminal trial that led to his felony conviction, but off limits others involved in the former president’s case, in any case case until he is sentenced on July 11.
Judge Juan M. Merchan’s ruling – just days before Trump’s debate with President Joe Biden on Thursday – gives the presumptive Republican nominee permission to launch another attack against his former lawyer Michael Cohen, porn actor Stormy Daniels and other witnesses. Trump had been convicted May 30 for falsifying records to cover up a possible sex scandal, making him the first ex-president convicted of a crime.
Trump’s lawyers did urged Merchan to lift the gag order in full, arguing that there was nothing to justify continued restrictions on Trump’s First Amendment rights after the trial. Trump has said the gag order has prevented him from defending himself, while Cohen and Daniels continue to pillory him.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office asked Merchan to keep the ban on comments about jurors, court staff and the prosecution team in place until Trump is sentenced on July 11, but said last week they would be OK with Trump commenting on witnesses now that the trial is over. Prosecutors had opposed lifting the ban on comments about the jury.
Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying corporate records stemming from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump ten years earlier, which he denies.
The crime carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, but prosecutors have not said whether they would seek a prison sentence and it is unclear whether Merchan would impose such a sentence. Other options include a fine or probation.
After his conviction, Trump complained that he was substandard an “annoying gag order” while at the same time testing its limits. In his remarks a day after his conviction, Trump called Cohen “a sleazebag,” but not by name.
In a subsequent Newsmax interview, Trump addressed the jury and its makeup, complaining about Manhattan: “It’s a very, very liberal Democratic area, so I knew we were in big trouble,” and claiming: “I never saw a spark of a smile. of the jury. No, this was a location that was very unfair. A small portion of the population is Republican.”
Trump’s lawyers, who said they were under the impression the silence order would end with a verdict, wrote a letter to Merchan on June 4 asking him to withdraw the order.
Prosecutors urged Merchan to keep the ban on comments about jurors and trial personnel in place “at least through the sentencing hearing and the resolution of any post-trial motions.” They argued that the judge “had a duty to protect the integrity of this proceeding and the due administration of justice.”
Merchan issued Trump’s silence order on March 26, a few weeks before the start of the trial, after prosecutors raised concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tendency to attack people involved in his cases.
Merchan later expanded it to ban comments about his own family after Trump posted social media posts attacking the judge’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant. The order did not prohibit comments about Merchan or District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted the case.
During the trial, Merchan held Trump in contempt of court, fining him $10,000 for violating the gag order and threatening to put him in jail if he did it again.
In seeking to lift the gag order, Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued that Trump was entitled to “unfettered campaign advocacy” in light of Biden’s position. public comments about the verdict, and Cohen And Daniels ‘sustained public criticism.