Trump lawyers and prosecutors at odds over lifting gag order before sentencing – The Guardian US
Attorneys say restrictions on referring to participants in trial inhibits ex-president’s first amendment rights
As Donald Trump fights for Judge Juan Merchan to lift a gag order barring him from speaking publicly about key figures in his New York trial, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are urging the judge to keep the order in place.
“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,” wrote the prosecutors in a letter on Wednesday.
During the trial – over Trump’s efforts to bury a sex scandal before the 2016 election – Trump repeatedly inveighed on social media against figures connected to the case, including witnesses and the judge’s daughter, who has worked as a Democratic consultant.
In response, Merchan issued a series of orders barring Trump from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses and the family of the judge.
The trial concluded on 30 May, with the jury finding Trump guilty on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with the former president.
Prosecutors had said they wanted the gag order to “protect the integrity of this criminal proceeding and avoid prejudice to the jury”. In the order, Merchan noted prosecutors had sought the restrictions “for the duration of the trial”. He did not specify when they would be lifted.
Trump’s lawyers 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.”
In a letter on Tuesday, Blanche and Emil Bove asked Merchan to end the gag order, arguing there was nothing to justify “continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump” now that the trial is over.
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Among other reasons, the lawyers said Trump was entitled to “unrestrained campaign advocacy” in light of President Joe Biden’s public comments about the verdict last Friday, and continued public criticism of him by Cohen and Daniels, both key prosecution witnesses.
Trump’s lawyers also contend the gag order must go away so he is free to fully address the case and his conviction with the first presidential debate scheduled for 27 June.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Trump has continued to operate under the belief that he is still muzzled, telling reporters on Friday at Trump Tower: “I’m under a gag order, nasty gag order.”
Referring to Cohen, Trump said, “I’m not allowed to use his name because of the gag order” before slamming his former lawyer-turned-courtroom foe as “a sleazebag”.
During the trial, Merchan held Trump in contempt of court, fined him $10,000 for multiple violations of the gag order and threatened to put him in jail if he did it again.
Trump’s use of the term “sleazebag” to describe Cohen just before the trial rankled prosecutors, but was not considered a gag order violation by the judge. Merchan declined to sanction Trump for a 10 April social media post, which referred to Cohen and Daniels by that insult.
The judge said at the time that Trump’s contention that he was responding to previous posts by Cohen that were critical of him “is sufficient to give” him pause on whether prosecutors met their burden in demonstrating that the post was out of bounds.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on 11 July.