OAN’s Brooke Mallory
Tuesday, June 25, 2024 6:18 PM
A Manhattan judge on Tuesday overturned Donald Trump’s gag order, allowing the former president to freely speak about jurors and witnesses in the so-called “hush money trial” that led to his conviction.
advertisement
However, other parties involved in the case will be barred from entering until July 11.Number.
Judge Juan M. Marchan’s ruling gives Republican nominee Trump the right to subpoena his disgruntled former opponent’s lawyer Michael Cohen, former porn star Stormy Daniels and other witnesses in his trial, just days before a debate between Trump and President Joe Biden is scheduled for Thursday.
In his five-page judgment, Judge Marchan said the gag order was intended to “protect the integrity of the judicial process” and that because the trial was over and the jury discharged, witness and juror rights no longer applied.
Judge Marchan said he could not offer a defense but that it was his “strong preference” to continue to block Trump from speaking about the jurors, whose identities have not been disclosed. But he upheld a separate order barring Trump and his lawyers from revealing the names or addresses of specific jurors. After the ruling, Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, said the defense had disposed of the materials.
“There is ample evidence to justify ongoing concerns about the jurors,” Marchan said.
Marchant also placed restrictions on Trump speaking about the prosecution team, court officials, or their families. He wrote that these officials “must continue to carry out their lawful duties without threat, intimidation, harassment or harm.” Trump is also free to speak about the judge and the office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who filed the lawsuit, without being bound by those restrictions.
After the trial, Trump’s lawyers argued there was no need to restrict Trump’s First Amendment rights and asked Marchan to lift the gag order entirely, which Trump said left him unable to defend himself while Cohen and Daniels continued to persecute him.
While it’s a huge victory for Trump, campaign spokesman Steven Chang criticized Tuesday’s ruling as “another unlawful decision by a deeply conflicted judge, one that silences President Trump, a leading 2024 presidential candidate, in Thursday’s scheduled presidential debate and is patently un-American.” AP News report.
Chang said the gag order “immediately challenges today’s unconstitutional order” because it still bars him from speaking about a judge he claims has a conflict of interest or from repeating unfounded accusations that Biden was overseeing the prosecution.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had asked Judge Marchan to maintain the gag order banning Trump from speaking about jurors or trial personnel until his verdict, but announced last week that now that the trial is over, it is OK for Trump to speak about witnesses.
In response to the verdict, Cohen said, “For the past six years, Donald and his supporters have made constant negative statements about me. His failed tactics to discredit me in order to avoid responsibility didn’t work then and it won’t work now.”
On March 26, just weeks before the trial began.NumberProsecutor Marchan issued the gag order against Trump in response to concerns prosecutors expressed about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s history of discussing people connected to his case on Truth Social.
Judge Marchan later expanded the ban to include comments about his own family after President Trump made public comments on social media about the judge’s daughter, a known Democratic political strategist.
The judge threatened to send Trump to prison if he violated the gag order again.
In an attempt to lift the ban, Trump lawyers Todd Branche and Emil Bove argued that Trump has the right to “unfettered campaigning” given Biden’s public comments about the ruling and his consistent attacks on Stormy Daniels and Cohen.
Stay up to date! Receive the latest news directly in your email for free. Sign up here: https://www.oann.com/alerts
Please share this post!
