Mexico City. New York’s highest court on Thursday upheld a judge’s gag order against Donald Trump in the case in which the former US president was convicted on criminal charges stemming from paying a porn star money in exchange for her silence.
Trump, the Republican candidate for the November 5 presidential election, argued that restrictions imposed on him by Judge Juan Merchan – preventing him from speaking publicly about court staff and individual prosecutors – violated his right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The New York State Court of Appeals disagreed. The court said Thursday it was dismissing Trump’s appeal because “there is no substantial constitutional question directly involved.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump would “continue to fight the unconstitutional witch hunt and gag orders.”
Trump also faces a gag order in an unrelated federal criminal case in Washington, D.C., over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
A mid-level state appeals court had rejected Trump’s appeal of Merchan’s gag order in August, calling the restrictions “tailored.”
Merchan imposed the gag order just weeks before the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president was set to begin on April 22. The judge said Trump’s history of making threatening statements could undermine the proceedings.
Merchan’s original order prevented Trump from commenting on prosecutors, court staff, witnesses and jurors.
Lifted restrictions on witnesses and jurors following Trump’s conviction on May 30. Another order bars Trump or others involved in the case from identifying jurors, who acted anonymously.
Jurors found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for covering up a $130,000 payment from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The payment was made before the 2016 election in exchange for Daniels keeping quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump a decade earlier, something Trump denied. Trump won the presidency by defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on November 26.
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– 2024-09-14 07:45:06
