Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is seeking to lift a gag order imposed during his business records trial following Trump’s conviction and ahead of the presidential debate at the end of June.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, sent a letter on Monday to Judge Juan Marchan, who is presiding over Trump’s trial, arguing that the gag order should be lifted in light of Trump’s recent criminal conviction.
A Manhattan jury on Thursday found the former president guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made by President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“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 said. letter, Obtained From Axios.
On March 26, Judge Marchan issued a gag order against former President Trump, prohibiting him from making any publicly incriminating statements about witnesses or attorneys, except to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, court officials, family members of court officials, or Bragg’s staff.
In late April, Marchand ruled that Trump had violated the gag order and ordered him to remove “seven” posts from his Truth Social account. Trump was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for violating the gag order ninth time.
In her letter, Blanche went on to point out that President Joe Biden’s campaign held a campaign event outside a Manhattan courthouse on May 28 featuring actor Robert De Niro, and that a presidential debate between Biden and President Trump is scheduled for June 27, “makes the constitutional imperative against President Trump’s unrestrained campaigning even stronger.”
In her letter, Blanche also noted that Biden had “publicly commented on the jury verdict” and that witnesses at the trial, Cohen and Daniels, had “continued to publicly attack” Trump.
Trump’s sentence comes four days before the Republican Party holds its national convention on July 15.
