Donald Trump has been gagged AGAIN! And it came fast, hard and only applies to him. CNN reports that Donald Trump is now gagged from making "statements about attorneys, court staff or the family members of prosecutors or lawyers intended to interfere with the case." He is also "barred from making statements about any potential or actual juror."
In the order, Judge Merchan made his views crystal clear, writing that Trump "has a history of making “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” statements against people at all levels of the justice system, including jurors." This ruling will prevent Trump from talking about, posting about or reposting about Michael Cohen, his former fixer and one of the two main witnesses at the "Hush Money" criminal trial.
Trump IS allowed to talk about D.A. Alvin Bragg and the Judge himself, as they are both public figures. The order comes just hours after Trump posted a social media screed directly attacking Judge Merchan's daughter, who has absolutely nothing to do with this case, and one of Bragg's lead prosecutors.
Here is the post:
Read the entire gag order here:
Judge Merchan made it clear that Trump poses a serious risk to all people connected directly (or indirectly) to this case, saying: “The uncontested record reflecting the Defendant’s prior extra-judicial statements establishes a sufficient risk to the administration of justice … and there exists no less restrictive means to prevent such risk."
Prior to issuing the gag order, Judge Merchan "reviewed Trump’s public statements in his other cases as he decided whether to impose restrictions." He wrote that "these extrajudicial statements went far beyond defending himself against ‘attacks’ by ‘public figures. Indeed, his statements were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating, and the targets of his statements ranged from local and federal officials, court and court staff, prosecutors and staff assigned to the cases, and private individuals including grand jurors performing their civic duty."
Although jurors' names and identifying information will already be made private, Judge Merchan clearly felt that was not sufficient to control defendant Donald Trump. In the order, Judge Merchan said: “While the protective order related to juror anonymity prevents the dissemination of certain personal information, it is not sufficient to prevent extrajudicial speech targeting jurors and exposing them to an atmosphere of intimidation."
And if anyone thinks Judge Merchan isn't aware of what Trump is doing or saying, you are wrong. In fact, Judge Merchan clearly stated in his order that he WAS paying attention, saying: “Notably, within hours of the court appearance on March 25, 2024, setting the trial date for April 15, 2024, the Defendant targeted an individual prosecutor assigned to this case, referring to him as a ‘radical left from DOJ put into [ … ] the District Attorney’s Office to run the trial against Trump and that was done by Biden and his thugs’ in a press conference."
Additionally, Judge Merchan specifically called out Trump's personal attacks on the Judge's daughter, referencing “the nature and impact of the statements made against this Court and a family member thereof.” It appears that that personal attack was the last straw. Judge Merchan "noted that Trump’s statements in his cases had led to “not only fear on the part of the individual targeted, but also the assignment of increased security resources to investigate threats and protect the individuals and family members thereof. Such inflammatory extrajudicial statements undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of this Court,"
Trump's criminal trial begins on April 15th. He is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements to Michael Cohen for hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels following his affair with her just weeks after Barron was born.
