A court in the hush money prosecution of Donald Trump has partially lifted the gag order that limited the former president’s ability to speak about witnesses involved in the case, including Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen. This comes just two days before Trump faces off against Joe Biden in the AWN Presidential Debate.
But according to a court decision that Judge Juan Merchan rolled back portions of the gag order that was placed before the trial started, Trump cannot address any prosecutor, court personnel, or their family members. This was announced on Tuesday. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11, and until then, that part of the gag order will be in place.
An updated hierarchy Although Tuesday’s announcement does remove the prohibition on publicly speaking negatively about jurors, it also clarify that it is still illegal to disclose any juror’s personally identifiable information.
The “circumstances have now changed” after Trump was convicted last month on 34 charges of falsifying company documents, according to Merchan’s judgment Tuesday releasing portions of the gag order.
Just two days before Trump takes on Biden in a debate, the judge has handed down his ruling, which will undoubtedly touch on Trump’s conviction. The former president can now address the prosecution’s witnesses and the Manhattan jury’s slant toward Democrats.
According to a statement released by Trump spokeswoman Steven Cheung, the order from Merchan “leaves in place portions of the unconstitutional gag order” and the president intends to appeal the decision.
During the forthcoming presidential debate on Thursday, Cheung criticized the ruling, calling it “blatantly un-American” and another unlawful decision by a highly conflicted court. The verdict would have the effect of gaging President Trump, the leading candidate in the 2024 election. “The unconstitutional order of today will be immediately challenged by President Trump and his legal team.”
“On the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved,” the top court in New York said last week when asked whether it would consider Trump’s appeal of the gag order.
Throughout the trial, Trump was found guilty of ten counts of contempt for disobeying Merchan’s gag order, which he had violated by speaking out against Cohen and Daniels as well as the jury pool. The court fined Trump $10,000 (or $1,000 each infraction) and threatened jail time for further infractions.
Throughout the seven weeks of the trial, Trump griped about the gag order on multiple occasions, claiming that witnesses, like Cohen, were using it to attack him when he couldn’t answer.
While Merchan acknowledged that he was unable to legally limit Cohen’s public statements regarding the case, he nonetheless voiced his dismay at the former Trump fixer and lawyer’s comments. Merchan instructed the prosecution to advise Cohen from making any public comments regarding the trial at one point.
Cohen made the following statement to AWN on Tuesday: “Donald and his followers have been continuously speaking ill of me for the last six years. Discrediting me was Donald’s tactic to evade responsibility, and it hasn’t worked and won’t work either.
The office of the Manhattan district attorney chose not to comment.
Noting that the limits he imposed on Trump throughout the trial had been upheld by appeals courts, Merchan justified his gag order provisions by saying they “were narrowly tailored to address the significant concerns regarding the Defendant’s extrajudicial speech” in his order.
In his written statement, the judge expressed his reluctance to remove the jurors’ gag order, saying, “there is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors.”
Despite Merchan’s “strong preference to extend those protections” to jurors, he claimed he was unable to do so due to legal constraints.
Prior to sentencing, prosecutors, court employees, and their families must feel safe in order to execute their jobs, according to Merchan, about the remaining safeguards.
“Those covered by that part of my gag order must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm until sentence is imposed,” Merchan stated in his letter.
Prosecutors in Manhattan said last week that threats against them have grown since the trial began, and they asked Merchan to maintain the gag order that Trump is prohibited from making comments on the jury, the prosecution, and their relatives.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office stated in the document that it was in favor of removing the gag order provision that prevented Trump from commenting on witnesses.