NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors in Manhattan urged a judge Wednesday to uphold Donald Trump’s silence order in his hush-money criminal case at least until the former president is sentenced in July. misdemeanor convictions last week.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo told Judge Juan M. Merchan in a letter that the Manhattan district attorney’s office opposes any immediate termination of the gag order, which bars Trump from commenting on witnesses, jurors and others involved in the case – but not on the judge himself.
The court “has a duty to protect the integrity of these proceedings and the due process of law, at a minimum through the sentencing hearing and resolution of any post-trial motions,” Colangelo wrote.
Tuesday, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove had asked Merchan to end the gag order, arguing there was nothing to justify “continued restrictions on President Trump’s First Amendment rights” now that the trial is over.
In issuing the silence order in March, Merchan noted that prosecutors had requested it “for the duration of the trial.” However, Colangelo argued that the order was “based not only on the need to avoid threats to the fairness of the trial itself,” but also on the judge’s “obligation to prevent actual damage to the integrity of the case.”
Colangelo said prosecutors prefer that both sides submit written arguments to the court in the coming weeks on the gag order issue — a move that, if Merchan agrees, would extend the restrictions at least until nearly the end of the would remain in force for a month.
A message seeking comment was left for Blanche.
Trump was convicted last Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying corporate records stemming from what prosecutors say was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump ten years earlier, which he denies.
Trump is expected to be sentenced on July 11. His conviction carries a maximum prison sentence of four years, but prosecutors have not said whether they would seek incarceration and it is not clear whether Merchan would impose such a sentence. Other options include a fine or probation.
Blanche and Bove argued in their letter on Tuesday that Trump is entitled to “unrestrained campaign advocacy” in light of President Joe Biden’s public comments on last Friday’s verdict, and the continued public criticism of Trump by his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen and Daniels, both key witnesses for the prosecution.
Trump’s lawyers also argue that the gag order should be lifted so he can fully discuss the case and his conviction during the first presidential debate scheduled for June 27.
Merchan issued Trump’s silence order on March 26, a few weeks before the start of the trial, after prosecutors raised concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tendency to attack people involved in his cases.
Merchan later expanded it to ban comments about his own family after Trump posted social media posts attacking the judge’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant. Comments about Merchan and District Attorney Alvin Bragg are allowed, but the gag order prohibits statements about court personnel and members of Bragg’s prosecution team.
Trump has continued to operate somewhat under the idea that he is still muzzled, telling reporters at Trump Tower on Friday: “I am under a gag order, a dirty gag order.”
Referring to Cohen, Trump said, “I’m not allowed to use his name because of the gag order,” before labeling his courtroom-turned lawyer “a sleazebag.”
During the trial, Merchan held Trump in contempt of court, fining him $10,000 for violating the gag order and threatening to put him in jail if he did it again.
Trump’s use of the term “sleazebag” to describe Cohen just before the trial confused prosecutors but was not considered a violation of the gag order by the judge. Merchan declined to chastise Trump for an April 10 social media post that referred to Cohen and Daniels with that insult.
The judge said at the time that Trump’s claim that he responded to previous posts by Cohen that were critical of him “is sufficient to cause him to consider whether prosecutors met their burden in showing that the post was out of bounds.” used to be.
