Former President Trump on Monday took another look at the gag order imposed in Michael Cohen’s case after he spent his day in court in his hush money trial, claiming that Cohen was “lying.”
“When are we going to look into all the lies that Cohen told in his last trial? He was caught lying. Pure lies. And when are we going to look into that?” Trump said. said Monday in a Manhattan courthouse.
His remarks came a day after his opening statement in a hush-money trial in New York, in which the former president illegally illegally paid hush money to Cohen to cover up allegations of an affair before the 2016 election. He is accused of concealing the information.
President Trump has filed 34 business records related to repayments to Cohen after Cohen paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair allegation in October 2016. He is charged with forgery.
Cohen, who is likely to be a witness in the case, pleaded guilty in a federal case in 2018 and was sentenced to three years in prison.
The charges related to payments made to Mr. Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement. Cohen claimed he did so at the direction of a “candidate for Congress.”
Judge Juan Melchán, who is overseeing the hush-money case, last month imposed a gag order that prohibits former President Trump from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors or others during his trial.
In his order, Marchan ordered President Trump to “make no public statements or direct any known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses regarding their potential participation in this investigation or criminal proceeding.” He said he was ordered to refrain from doing so.
The gag order was expanded earlier this month to limit Trump’s attacks on Marchand and the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who led the hush-money probe.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump’s comments violated Mr. Marchand’s gag order. A hearing on the gag order will be held on Tuesday, where Marchan is expected to rule on whether the former president’s recent social media posts violate the ban.
Prosecutors asked Marchand last week to fine the former president $3,000 for violating the gag order in three recent Truth Social posts.
Machan did not immediately rule on the prosecution’s request, which was filed April 15, but scheduled a hearing on the matter for Tuesday.
Although the post in question was aimed at Mr. Cohen and Mr. Daniels, Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue that the post did not violate the order. Attorney Todd Blanche argued last week that President Trump is “responding to vile, repeated and violent attacks by these witnesses.”
Mr. Trump’s lawyers also targeted Mr. Cohen in their opening statements Monday.
Blanche told jurors that Cohen could not be trusted because he had since become hostile to the former president. He cited Cohen’s past guilty pleas and painted him as a liar who makes a living attacking Trump on his podcast, books and cable news.
“Given this, I cannot give.” [a] “This is a momentous decision in which President Trump relies on the words of Michael Cohen,” Branch said in court.
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