A New York appeals court on Tuesday rejected former President Trump’s request to lift a gag order against him, finding that “no substantive constitutional questions are directly involved.”
With Trump’s trial over, Judge Juan Marchand issued a gag order restricting the former president and potential 2024 Republican presidential nominee from speaking about witnesses or the case.
The lawyers cited the November presidential election and the first debate with President Biden scheduled for later this month, as well as the First Amendment rights of the former president and his supporters, as reasons for lifting the order.
After Marchan refused to lift the gag order, Trump appealed the decision, but an appeals court rejected the appeal on Tuesday.
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Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024, after being convicted of 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. (Felipe Ramares for Fox News Digital)
“President Trump and his legal team will continue to fight the unconstitutional speech censorship order imposed by Judge Marchan,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Chang said in a statement.
“This gag order unfairly silences President Trump, who is a leading candidate in the US presidential elections at a time when the election campaign is in full swing. The gag order only applies to President Trump, and not to his political opponents and critics, or even the unscrupulous Joe Biden,” Chang said.
“The election interference gag order violates the First Amendment rights of President Trump and every American voter who has a fundamental right to hear his message,” he added.
The former president Was found guilty He was indicted last week on 34 first-degree counts of falsifying business records under a complaint filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, leading to a six-week trial.
Judge Marchan issued a gag order to Trump before the trial began, prohibiting him from making any public statements or directing others to speak about the potential participation of witnesses, any attorneys in the case other than Bragg, or any court staff, district attorney’s office staff, or family members of staff.
Trump’s team repeatedly challenged the order but was turned down.
“We respectfully submit this pre-motion letter asking the judge to lift the gag order restricting President Trump’s out-of-court speech,” Trump legal counsel Todd Blanche argued. “For the reasons set forth below, the case is over and the basis for the gag order no longer exists.”
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Former President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Poole)
Branche said Trump’s legal team initially challenged “the validity of the gag order” but that now that the trial is over, the order should be lifted.
“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 strong contender in the 2024 presidential election, and the American people,” Blanch wrote.
Branche added that in light of the “ongoing public attacks” by President Biden and his campaign, as well as government witnesses like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, “the constitutional imperative against President Trump’s unrestrained campaign activities is further strengthened.”
Blanche also cited the first presidential debate on June 27 as a reason to lift the order.
A footnote in the letter states, “The defense does not acknowledge that the gag order had a legitimate basis and reserves the right to challenge the irreparable First Amendment harm caused by the order.”
Trump was fined $10,000 during his trial for violating the censorship, and Marchant also threatened to imprison him for any further violations.
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Former President Donald Trump held a rally on May 23, 2024, in New York City’s historically Democratic South Bronx neighborhood. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
“I don’t want to go to jail,” Marchand said. “You’re [the] Former president and possibly the next president.”
“I understand the seriousness of this sentence,” Marchan said. “Your continued and willful violations of the court’s orders … amount to a direct attack … and cannot be allowed to continue any further … It cannot be allowed to continue any further.”
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Trump and his lawyers argue that the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee should not be bound by the gag order, which they say violates the First Amendment rights of not only Trump but also his supporters.
Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the GOP’s 2024 presidential candidate.
