Former President Trump’s hush-money judge has denied the former president’s request to scale back his gag order so he can speak publicly about porn actor Stormy Daniels, who has finished testifying in his ongoing criminal trial.
President Trump’s gag order limits attacks on witnesses and others, and the former president must stop attacking some of the people he frequently targets on social media or risk prison time. are forced to do so.
On Thursday afternoon, hours after Daniels was granted immunity, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche cited the defense’s line of attack during Daniels’ cross-examination, arguing that witnesses had changed their interpretation of events.
“He needs an opportunity to respond to the American people,” Blanche said, adding that the grounds for the gag order have ended. “She’s no longer a witness,” Blanche said.
Judge Juan Melchán rejected the court’s motion, upholding restrictions that would prevent Trump from criticizing the adult film star, one of prosecutors’ most high-profile witnesses.
“It’s not a track record,” Marchan said. “The reason the gag order is in place in the first place is precisely because of the nature of these attacks – the abusive language.”
The gag order prohibits President Trump from hurling insults at witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court officials, or judges’ families. It does not prevent Trump from attacking the judge himself or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
Mr. Bragg’s office opposed Mr. Trump’s request. Prosecutor Chris Conroy said the defense was living in an “alternate reality”.
“There are no other allies. There is a legal process that this order is designed to protect,” Conroy said.
The former president and his legal team argue the restrictions violate Trump’s First Amendment rights and respond to political attacks with the former president’s status as a potential Republican nominee in mind. emphasized the need to
“This judge took away my constitutional right to free speech. I’m the only presidential candidate in history who was gagged. They don’t want me to speak,” Trump said. he said in a video posted to Truth Social on Wednesday that appeared to be filmed at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida.
In much-anticipated testimony over two days in court this week, the porn star detailed allegations that she had sex with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006, but Trump This is denied.
Contributed by Ella Lee and Lauren Sforza.
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