A New York State Supreme Court judge has granted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's request to impose a limited gag order on former President Donald Trump, restricting the Republican nominee's ability to publicly speak out against witnesses, prosecutors and their families as well as jurors in his hush-money criminal case.
As The New York Times reports:
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, imposed the order at the request of the Manhattan district attorney's office, which brought the case against Mr. Trump. The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, has accused Mr. Trump of covering up a potential sex scandal during and after his 2016 campaign.
Mr. Trump recently clinched the Republican presidential nomination for the third time, and with three other criminal cases against him mired in delay, the Manhattan case could be the only one to go to trial before voters head to the polls in November.
Under the judge's gag order, Mr. Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, statements about witnesses' roles in the case. Mr. Trump is also barred from commenting on prosecutors and court staff as well as their relatives — if the statements were intended to interfere with their work on the case.
In seeking the gag order last month, Mr. Bragg's prosecutors highlighted Mr. Trump's “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him” — comments that the judge seized on in his ruling.
Trump is defending himself against 34 charges of falsifying business records in part to conceal a $130,000 payment that then-fixer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial date has been set for April 15.
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