Between the 2nd day In court this week, Donald Trump’s lawyers and the judge had a rather heated exchange over the gag order issued against the former president. according to report.
Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of violating Acting Judge Juan Machan’s gag order, which prohibits him from speaking publicly about court officials or their families.
The trial began on Tuesday with a hearing on the alleged violations. Prosecutor Chris Conroy ordered Marchan to pay a $1,000 fine for 10 social media posts that he said insulted Trump and posed a “very real threat” to court proceedings. I urged him to do so.
In one of his Truth Social posts, Trump refers to “two scumbags,” which prosecutors say are Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen and porn actress Stormy Daniels. He claimed that he was referring to Mr.
Conroy claimed that Trump’s comments attacked the “credibility” of the witness.
“Going after Michael Cohen is a recurring theme in these posts,” Conroy said.
The defense argued that Trump did not violate the gag order and that his comments were in response to the attack.
Conroy claimed that Trump’s legal team had tried to “murky the waters.”
“There is no provision in this order to respond to attacks,” he added.
In addition to charging Trump with contempt and imposing a fine, prosecutors are asking a judge to order him to delete 10 posts.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, argued that the social media comments were a “direct response” to statements made by Daniels and Cohen. Blanche and Marchand had a tense exchange over whether the post was political or about the court case.
“President Trump is authorized to respond to political attacks,” Blanche told Marchand.
The judge asked Branch to identify specific comments by Cohen and Daniels to which Trump responded in social media posts. Blanche responded by saying he was referring to general and repeated statements, claiming that two witnesses had recently “intensified their political attacks and also intensified their attacks on him as a candidate.” did.
“What I feel is that I’m asking again and again for specific answers and I’m not getting them,” Marchand told Blanche. “I asked you eight or nine times to show me the exact post he was replying to. You were never able to do that.”
At one point, Mr. Marchand told Mr. Blanche that he had “lost all confidence in the court.”
Blanche said Trump is “very careful to comply” with the judge’s gag order.
After a break, the trial continued with the prosecution’s first witness, David Pecker, back on the stand. Mr. Pecker, a former publisher of the National Enquirer, claimed he was part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme with Mr. Cohen to buy the rights to unfavorable articles about Mr. Trump and never publish them.
“If there’s anything that I experience with the market rumors and negative stories that come out about Trump and his family and the whole thing that I’ve heard, I think Michael Cohen “I would call them directly,” he testified.
Mr. Pecker claimed that Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen asked him what the National Enquirer could do to help the 2016 presidential campaign.
“What I do is I run or publish positive articles about Mr. Trump, but I also publish negative articles about my opponents. And I also say that I’m… my eyes and ears. “I said I would be your eyes and ears,” he said.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker whether it would have been beneficial for the National Enquirer to buy the rights to stories the news organization never published. He answered, “No.”
He claimed there was no written agreement with President Trump about the deal because it was “just an agreement between friends.”
One of the stories obtained by Mr. Pecker was from a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed that Mr. Trump fathered a child out of wedlock. According to Pecker’s testimony, Pecker gave the man $30,000 for exclusive rights to the article, even though Cohen told him the rumor was “absolutely not true.”
Pecker said he plans to make the story public after the election if it turns out to be accurate, claiming it was “very embarrassing for the campaign.”
Pecker said the story turned out to be “absolutely 1000% false.”
during an interview with real american voice On Monday night, President Trump said, “The jury was selected very quickly, 95% Democrats, the entire region, almost all Democrats.” You consider it a purely Democratic area. It’s a very unfair situation.”
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