What you should know
- Trump’s lawyers filed a motion Friday refuting a gag order imposed on him Tuesday by a judge in New York, preventing him from publicly commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or jurors in his impending criminal trial over allegations that he paid to silence accusations against him.
- The lawyers say that “contrary to the People’s suggestion, the Court cannot order President Trump to do anything that the gag order does not require. They say no expansion is appropriate based on a one-page letter that cites only two cases and where President Trump’s response has been restricted to a single page that must be submitted the next day while President Trump and his defense attorney prepare for trial.”
- State Judge Juan Merchán’s ruling orders Trump to “refrain” from “making or ordering others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses regarding his possible involvement” in the business records falsification case, as well as about individual prosecutors, court staff members, jurors and potential jurors.
NEW YORK — Trump’s lawyers filed a motion Friday refuting a gag order imposed on him Tuesday by a New York judge ordering him not to comment publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court personnel or jurors in his impending criminal trial for accusations that he paid to silence accusations against him.
The lawyers say that “contrary to the People’s suggestion, the Court cannot order President Trump to do anything that the gag order does not require. They say no expansion is appropriate based on a one-page letter that cites only two cases and where President Trump’s response has been restricted to a single page that must be submitted the next day while President Trump and his defense attorney prepare for trial.”
State Judge Juan Merchán’s ruling orders Trump to “refrain” from “making or ordering others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses regarding his possible involvement” in the business records falsification case, as well as about individual prosecutors, court staff members, jurors and potential jurors.
The order does not apply to the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote in a message on social media that the gag order is “illegal, un-American, unconstitutional” and asserted that Judge Juan M. Merchan “is illegally trying to deprive me of my right under the First Amendment to speak against the politicization of justice.”
The judge said the measure was necessary now because “the defendant’s prior extrajudicial statements establish a sufficient risk to the administration of justice” and “there are no less restrictive means to prevent such risk.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the order “unconstitutional” and argued that it prevents Trump from “engaging in core political speech, which is entitled to the highest level of protection under the First Amendment.”
Trump’s lawyers had argued in court papers that because he is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, “he should have unfettered access to the voting public to respond to attacks from his political opponents.”
Merchan said those arguments “didn’t convince him” and that Trump’s public comments on the case have gone “far beyond defending himself against the attacks.”
The judge noted that Trump’s previous statements in this case and others included “threatening, inflammatory” and “denigrating” language and said similar attacks “would undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of the Court.”
Merchan also suggested that she had firsthand knowledge about being the target of Trump’s comments, citing “the nature and impact of the statements made against this Court and a family member,” among others.
The ruling came hours after Trump criticized the judge, his daughter, Bragg, and Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, a key witness in the case, on his social media platform, Truth Social. The publication referred to Cohen as a “liar and criminal,” and also referred to a former prosecutor in the case, Mark Pomerantz, as a “trash lawyer.”
Cohen said in a statement that he was grateful for the judge’s action.
“I want to thank Judge Merchan for imposing the gag order, as I have been under relentless attack from Donald’s MAGA supporters,” he said. “However, knowing Donald as well as I do, he will attempt to defy the gag order by employing others within his circle to carry out his orders; regardless of the consequences.”
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to criminal charges that included making secret deals for women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
The district attorney’s case centers on payments Trump made to reimburse Cohen for $130,000 he paid one of the women, adult film star Stormy Daniels, to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Trump has denied sleeping with Daniels, but has acknowledged paying Cohen. He pleaded not guilty to charges of “repeatedly and fraudulently falsifying New York business records.”
The case is scheduled to go to trial on April 15.
Part of this article was originally written for NBC news. To read the article in English go here.
2024-03-30 01:02:26
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