(WatchDogReport.org) – A New York appeals court has ruled that former President Donald Trump’s gag order will stay in place during the remainder of his hush money criminal trial in Manhattan.
The gag order prevents Trump from commenting publicly about the trial’s witnesses, counsel (excluding Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg), the District Attorney’s staff, the court’s staff, or relatives of any staff member or counsel. According to the order, Justice Juan Merchan thoroughly considered the petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s duty to ensure the fair administration of justice. The order also reiterated the court’s commitment to protecting those related to the criminal proceedings from harassment, intimidation, and threats.
Trump has now been found guilty of ten violations of his gag order, resulting in Merchan handing him fines totaling $10,000. The judge commented that the penalties did not appear to be deterring Trump’s behavior and that if the former president’s ignoring of the gag order continued, the court would have to consider handing him a jail sentence. In his latest verdict, Merchan decided that Trump’s statements in public significantly threatened the “integrity” of the trial’s witnesses and potential witnesses.
Trump has continually expressed his frustration over the gag order to reporters, telling them before entering the courtroom that they are asking him questions he is not able to answer. In 2020, Trump’s disgraced former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is testifying against his former boss in the Hush Money trial, sued U.S. Attorney General William Barr over an imposed gag order. Cohen, whose conduct on social media outside the courtroom during the Hush Money trial has been questioned, argued that his re-arrest violated his right to free speech.
Trump continues to call the gag order unconstitutional. The former president has now asked New York’s Court of Appeals to intervene regarding the gag order. Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, told reporters about the request, referring to Merchan as a “conflicted judge.” Cheung claimed that the “un-American” gag order was an “authoritarian tactic” that belonged in the Third World, calling it “typical” of President Joe Biden’s administration and an attempt to jail the Republican presidential candidate for exercising his right to free speech.
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