Lawyers for former President Trump have asked the judge in his criminal hush-money case to lift a gag order imposed on his comments now that the trial is over.
Judge Juan Marchan earlier this year barred Trump from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors, court officials or prosecutors — an order that was later extended to include family members of prosecutors and judges following a fierce attack on Marchan’s daughter, an executive at a progressive political consulting firm.
The order did not stop Trump from targeting Marchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
Prosecutors argued that the gag order “protects the integrity of this criminal trial and avoids prejudice to the jury.” Marchant agreed, writing that Trump’s tactics of targeting people involved in his legal matters and their families “inject fear” into the trial.
“Now that the trial is over, the concerns expressed by the government and the Supreme Court do not justify continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump, who remains a viable candidate in the 2024 presidential election, or the American people,” Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove said in a pre-petition letter on Tuesday, clarifying that they do not acknowledge that the order was valid and reserve the right to challenge the “irreparable First Amendment harm” caused by the order.
Trump’s legal team cited a May 28 event outside Manhattan Criminal Court — in which actor Robert De Niro and two Jan. 6 police officers blasted Trump on behalf of Biden’s campaign — and Biden’s own comments after his jury reached a “guilty” verdict Thursday on all 34 charges of falsifying business records that Trump faces, as reasons for lifting the gag order.
“The American principle that no one is above the law has been reaffirmed. Donald Trump was given ample opportunity to defend himself. This is a state case, not a federal case,” Biden said last week. “It was tried by a jury of 12 citizens. Like the millions of Americans who have served on juries, this jury was selected in the same way that every jury in America is selected.”
The former president’s personal lawyer noted that the first presidential debate between Biden and President Trump, scheduled for June 27, is rapidly approaching.
Trump’s legal team also pointed to “sustained public attacks” from the state’s star witnesses, Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, since the verdict.
Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, has said since the verdict that as long as he and Trump “exist on this planet at the same time,” Trump will try to hurt him and that “I will never be Donald Trump’s punching bag or anyone’s.”
Daniels, a porn star who was paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump a decade ago ahead of the 2016 election, said she thought Trump “should receive prison time and community service.”
President Trump has launched attacks on the families of judges in all of his cases, as well as the families of other political opponents.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 in a criminal case over hush money, just days before he is formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.
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