Manhattan prosecutors are asking a judge to clarify a gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump after he posted a social media post criticizing the judge’s daughter.
In a letter dated Friday to New York State Judge Juan Marchan, prosecutors asked the judge to clarify whether the order protects the court’s family, the district attorney’s office and other individuals. They asked the court to order Trump to stop attacking Marchand’s family after he went on a violent rant on Truth Social, calling out her daughter by name.
He suggested that Marchan may be serving his daughter’s interests as a political consultant for the Democratic Party. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, said his daughter Lauren Marchan, a judge whose firm has worked on the campaigns of President Joe Biden and other Democrats, recently said the company would see Trump jailed. He claimed to have posted photos on social media depicting “obvious targets.”
President Trump asserts his innocence and says, “I never thought something like this could happen in America.”
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing on Monday, March 25, 2024, in New York. The judge is scheduled to consider it on Monday, when the former president’s trial begins. (AP Photo/Mary Altafer, Pool)
“Judge Juan Melchan is in complete danger and should be removed from this Trump non-litigation immediately,” he wrote Thursday. “His daughter Lauren is a passionate Trump hater, and even though she admits to having discussed me with her father, her father gagged me.”
Manhattan prosecutors said witnesses and potential jurors were likely to fear similar attacks. They called on Merchan to “make it abundantly clear” who is protected by the gag order, to warn President Trump about his own conduct and to impose sanctions if he violates the gag order.
Manhattan Da Bragg asks judge to impose gag order on President Trump during hush money case
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference on Thursday, March 7, 2024 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Trump’s lawyers responded with a letter saying the Manhattan district attorney’s office had misunderstood the order.
“The court cannot ‘instruct’ President Trump to do anything that is not required by the gag order,” the letter reads. “To ‘clarify or confirm’ the meaning of the gag order in the manner suggested by the public would be to expand the gag order.”
The gag order prohibits President Trump from making public statements on his behalf about prospective jurors and witnesses in his hush money trial, including former lawyer Michael Cohen and porn actress Stormy Daniels. Or, it is prohibited to give instructions to others. It also prohibits statements intended to disrupt or harass court officials, the prosecution team, or their families.
Former President Donald Trump waves as he leaves the Trump Building on Monday. On Friday, prosecutors asked a New York judge to explain a gag order imposed on Trump after he called the judge’s daughter by name in a social media post. (Adam Gray, Fox News Digital)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Judge Marchand will preside over an upcoming trial in which Trump is accused of paying hush money during the 2016 presidential campaign. Last April, he pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
