On Tuesday, a judge issued a gag order prohibiting Donald Trump from publicly commenting on witnesses or court personnel ahead of his April 15 criminal trial in connection with hush money paid to a porn star.
Justice Juan Merchan approved a motion by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which is pursuing Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential contender.
“His statements were threatening, inflammatory, and denigrating,” Merchan wrote, alluding to Trump’s earlier assaults on witnesses, prosecutors, and judges in numerous legal disputes he is involved in.
Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli announce the birth of their second child, a boy named Akaay
“Such inflammatory extrajudicial statements undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of this court,” noted the judge, who serves on the New York State Supreme Court.
Trump faces 34 felony charges of fabricating company documents to disguise payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her quiet before the 2016 election over a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump denies having contact with Daniels, whose true name is Stephanie Clifford.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the gag order unlawful.
“American voters have a fundamental right to hear the uncensored voice of the leading candidate for the highest office in the land,” he stated.
Trump’s lawyers previously stated that a gag order would leave him vulnerable to assaults by his opponents over the lawsuit.
The injunction issued on Tuesday barred Trump from discussing about witnesses and their roles in the investigation. It further prohibited Trump from commenting on court officials, prosecutors other than Bragg, or any of their family members if his statements were intended to interfere with the case.
Merchan ruled on March 7 that jurors would stay anonymous save to Trump, his attorneys, prosecutors, and a few others, after prosecutors cited Trump’s history of publicly mocking trial and grand jurors.
Election results in Pakistan: winners and losers
The upcoming hush money trial is one of four criminal lawsuits that Trump is facing ahead of the November 5 election in the United States. It might be the only one brought to trial before the election. He has pled not guilty to all charges, claiming they are politically motivated.
The gag order was identical to the limits imposed by a federal judge last year in a criminal lawsuit involving Trump’s attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden.
Another state judge fined Trump $15,000 last year for repeatedly breaching a gag order prohibiting him from publicly commenting on court officials in a separate civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Trump is facing state criminal charges in Georgia for attempting to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden, as well as federal criminal accusations in Florida for his handling of sensitive government records after leaving the White House in 2021.
Trump is appealing a $454.2 million civil fraud verdict for defrauding lenders by misstating the worth of his family real estate company’s holdings. On March 25, a mid-level state appeals court stayed the verdict as long as Trump posted a lower $175 million bail within 10 days.
