Donald Trump on Monday vowed to condemn the families of people involved in his “hush money” criminal case, after the former president repeatedly bashed the daughter of a progressive judge who will oversee his upcoming trial. Banned.
The expanded order by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan means the prosecutor’s office will force the court to rein in President Trump’s “dangerous” and “violent” comments, including a “barrage” of online attacks against Marchan’s daughter. This was issued in response to a request to do so.
“This issue is not complex. Family members of participants in the trial must be strictly off limits,” said prosecutor Matthew Colangelo (who, as recently as last week, was himself the target of Trump’s abuse). said in a court filing.
Colangelo added: “The defendant’s claims to the contrary suggest a dangerous sense of entitlement that will incite fear and even cause physical harm to the loved ones of those who meet him in court.”
Trump, 77, was previously under a gag order that prohibits him from publicly bashing witnesses, prosecutors, court officials or jurors. The order prevents him from robbing the families of “court employees,” but it is unclear whether that includes relatives of Mr. Marchand or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Shortly after the order was issued, President Trump posted a photo of Marchand’s daughter, Democratic political consultant Lauren Marchand, on his social media platform Truth Social to his 7 million followers. vehemently criticized.
Lauren Marchand, real campaign, The Chicago-based political consulting firm counts Trump’s opponents among its major clients, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who served as lead prosecutor in the first Republican impeachment trial.
But Trump also claimed, without providing evidence, that Marchand’s daughter posted a photo of Marchand in prison on his X account. This fueled Trump’s claims that his family is biased and that the judge “hates him.”
Publicly accessible records on the social media site formerly known as Twitter show that the account in question had the same username as an account once used by Marchand’s daughter, but was actually launched in 2023. It appears to have been a new account created using her name in April.
State court spokesman Al Baker said the new account “represents the reinstatement and operation of an account she abandoned long ago.”
Trump’s lawyers Susan Necheres and Todd Blanche argued that Trump has the constitutional right to tear apart the judge’s family as he wishes.
Attempts to block his actions would “unreasonably restrict campaign advocacy by Republican candidates and potential candidates for the 2024 presidential election,” they said in a Monday filing.
President Trump has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, a decision that clears him of an extramarital affair that was expected to come to light on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. Her story was silent.
He has repeatedly argued that the lawsuit, led by Bragg, a Democrat in a district that voted against Trump by landslides in 2016 and 2020, is politically motivated.
President Trump also frequently posts violent images on social media platforms about people he believes are against him, including a photo of President Biden pig-tied and sitting in the back of a truck.
Last March, he posted an image of himself holding a baseball bat next to Mr Bragg’s head and threatened to bring “death and destruction” if he were to be charged criminally in New York.
Last fall, he incited a post claiming that the son of Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw President Trump’s New York civil fraud trial, was given a special seat in the courtroom. But the bearded man tagged in the photo as Engoron’s son was actually a Post reporter. Trump never deleted the post.
Colangelo wrote Monday that his new social media attacks are aimed at “intimidating witnesses and trial participants alike.”
“The defendant knows what he is doing and everyone else knows,” the prosecutor said.
The court’s new gag order still allows President Trump to address Judges Marchand and Bragg themselves, but bars the families of both judges.
