Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office wrote to the judge in former President Donald Trump’s New York hush-money case that they oppose his efforts to lift a gag order as he awaits sentencing post-conviction.
Trump’s lawyers had asked Judge Juan Merchan to lift the order on Tuesday, arguing he should be unrestricted from the order as he campaigns for president and is subject to criticism from witnesses, including his former lawyer Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels. The gag order barred Trump from making statements about witnesses, court staff, the prosecution team and the judge’s family -- though it did not bar him from making statements about Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Bragg’s team argued in their response that Merchan’s initial justification -- the court’s “obligation to prevent actual harm to the integrity of the proceedings” or intimidate the court -- still holds as Trump awaits his July 11 sentencing after being found guilty last week on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with Daniels.
“These interests have not abated, and the Court has an obligation to protect the integrity of these proceedings and the fair administration of justice at least through the sentencing hearing and the resolution of any post-trial motions,” the prosecutors wrote.
Trump was held in contempt of court and fined $1,000 10 times during the trial for public statements and social media posts about witnesses, jurors and the judge’s daughter. Merchan threatened him with jail time if he continued to flout the order.
On Tuesday night, Trump referenced the jury in a Newsmax interview. It was unclear if the comment violates the order. The jury was dismissed after reaching their verdict last Thursday.
“I never saw a glimmer of a smile from the jury,” Trump said, lamenting the relatively low number of Republicans in Manhattan compared to Democrats. The political affiliations of the jurors are not public. “And then we had a judge that was very unfair.”
Merchan issued Trump’s gag order on March 26, a few weeks before the start of the trial, after prosecutors raised concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s propensity to attack people involved in his cases. Merchan later expanded it to prohibit comments about his own family after Trump made social media posts attacking the judge’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant.
Trump’s lawyers also contend the gag order must go away so he’s free to fully address the case and his conviction with the first presidential debate scheduled for June 27.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told the Associated Press last Friday that it was his understanding the gag order would expire when the trial ended and that he would seek clarity from Merchan, which he did on Tuesday.
“It’s a little bit of the theater of the absurd at this point, right? Michael Cohen is no longer a witness in this trial,” Blanche told the AP. “The trial is over. The same thing with all the other witnesses. So, we’ll see. I don’t mean that in any way as being disrespectful of the judge and the process. I just want to be careful and understand when it no longer applies.”