By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Prosecutors who won Donald Trump’s landmark conviction last week on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star on Wednesday urged a judge to grant a stay at least until the former U.S.’s sentencing president to enforce a gag order. .
Trump’s lawyers asked the Justice Department earlier this week Juan Merchan to lift the order restricting the Republican presidential candidate’s public statements about jurors, witnesses and others involved in the case because the trial is over. Merchan imposed the order before the trial began in April, saying Trump’s history of threatening statements risked derailing the proceedings.
A Manhattan jury on May 30 found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying company records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels over her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter that she and Trump said they had had. Trump denies the meeting and has vowed to appeal his conviction.
In a letter to Merchan, prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said the court still has an interest in protecting the remaining proceedings.
“The court has a duty to protect the integrity of this proceeding and the due process of law, at a minimum through the sentencing hearing and resolution of any post-trial motions,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump is expected to renew his request to the judge in mid-June, with prosecutors expected to respond by the end of this month. He faces up to four years in prison at his sentencing hearing next month, although fines or probation are more common punishments for those convicted of falsifying company records.
Merchan fined Trump $10,000 for violations of the silence order during the seven-week trial, and warned him on May 6 that he would face jail time if he violated the order again.
Trump has argued that the gag order violates his right to free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. His lawyers said the lifting of the gag order was especially important because his opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Democratic President Joe Biden, has commented on the verdict, and because the two will debate on June 27.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
