Trump case: judge imposes silence

NEW YORK (AP) A New York judge on Tuesday issued a gag order barring Donald Trump from publicly commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors at his upcoming secret criminal trial, citing the story of the former president in terms of threatening, inflammatory and denigrating remarks. about people involved in its legal affairs.

Judge Juan M. Merchan's ruling, echoing a gag order issued in Trump's election interference criminal case in Washington, D.C., came a day after he rejected defense pressure to delay the Manhattan trial until the summer and ordered it to begin April 15. , this will be the first criminal trial of a former president.

With the eve of trial upon us, there is no doubt that the imminence of the risk of harm is now paramount, Merchan wrote in a four-page ruling granting the prosecution's request for what it considers it a narrowly tailored silence order.

The judge said the Republican presidential candidates' alleged statements sparked fear and necessitated additional security measures to protect his targets and investigate threats.

Trump's lawyers fought the silence order, warning that it would amount to an unconstitutional and illegal prior restraint on his right to free speech. Merchan, who had long resisted imposing a gag order, said his obligation to ensure the integrity of the trial outweighed First Amendment concerns.

President Trump's political opponents have and will continue to attack him based on this case, Trump's lawyers, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, said in a recent court filing. Voters have the right to listen to President Trump's unfettered responses to these attacks, not just one side of the debate.

The silence order prohibits Trump from making or directing others to make public statements on his behalf about potential witnesses and jurors in the secret trial. It also prohibits any statement intended to interfere with or harass court staff, the prosecution team or their families.

That doesn't prohibit comments about Merchan, whom Trump characterized after his impeachment last year as a Trump-hating judge and whose family is full of Trump haters, or about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat. But it warns Trump that attacks on key figures in the case, like his former lawyer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen or porn star Stormy Daniels, will not be tolerated.

A violation could result in a contempt of court conviction, a fine, or even imprisonment.

“I want to thank Judge Merchan for enforcing silence as I have been subjected to relentless assaults from Donald's MAGA supporters,” said Cohen, a key witness for the prosecution against Trump. However, knowing Donald as well as I do, he will seek to defy the order of silence by employing others in his inner circle to carry out his orders, whatever the consequences.

Blanche declined to comment. Braggs' office also declined to comment. A message seeking comment was left for Trump's presidential campaign.

The silence order comes on top of existing restrictions that prohibit Trump from using evidence in this case to attack witnesses.

Trump's silence case centers on allegations that he falsely recorded payments to Cohen, then his personal lawyer, as legal fees on his company's books when they were for his work during the 2016 campaign covering up negative stories about Trump. This included $130,000 he paid Daniels on Trump's behalf so she would not go public with her claim of a sexual relationship with him years earlier.

Trump pleaded not guilty last April to 34 counts of falsifying business records, a crime punishable by up to four years in prison, although there is no guarantee that a Conviction would result in a prison sentence. He denies having sex with Daniels and his lawyers have said the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal fees and not part of any cover-up.

During his impeachment, Merchan urged Trump not to make statements that could incite violence or compromise security, but he stopped short of muzzling him. At a later hearing, Merchan emphasized Trump's special status as a former president and current candidate and said, “I'm going out of my way and working to make sure he gets every opportunity possible to advance their candidacy and to be able to speak in favor of their candidacy. candidacy.

As jury selection approaches, Merchan is increasingly wary of Trump's rhetoric that would disrupt the historic trial. Earlier this month, Merchan decided to keep the jurors' names from the public. Trump will have access, but he risks giving it up if he releases the names publicly or if he engages in harassment or disruptive conduct that threatens the safety or integrity of jurors, the judge said.

Now, with the gag order, Merchan declares many of the people involved in the case off-limits to Trump's social media venom, courthouse rants and campaign rallies. Trump's groans to television cameras as he entered and exited the courtroom became a ritual during his civil fraud trial in New York last year.

After leaving Monday's hearing where Merchan set the trial date, Trump tore into prosecutor Matthew Colangelo during a news conference, calling the former DOJ radical left Justice Department official sent to lead the Trump affair by Biden and his thugs. The judge cited these comments in his decision.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the secrecy issue. He warned on social media of potential death and destruction before his indictment last year and posting a photo on social media of himself holding a baseball bat next to a photo of Bragg. He called Cohen a convicted felon, a disbarred lawyer, with no credibility and used a derisive nickname to describe Daniels.

Merchan is just the latest judge to put guardrails around Trump.

In December, a federal appeals court panel largely upheld Trump's silence order in his election interference case in Washington, D.C., but restricted him by allowing him to criticize special counsel Jack Smith , who brought the case. New York's gag order echoed that decision by excluding Bragg.

During the fraud trial, Trump was fined $15,000 for twice violating a silence order imposed after posting a disparaging message on social media about the judge's chief law clerk.

In January, a federal judge threatened Trump with expulsion from court in a civil lawsuit over defamation claims brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll after he was heard saying they were 'a witch hunt and that it was actually a scam.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Jill Colvin and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

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