The judge who presided Donald Trump‘s hush money trial on Tuesday lifted some restrictions on his gag order.
Judge’s ruling Juan Merchan comes two days before Trump is scheduled to debate President Joe Biden for the first time in the 2024 campaign.
Merchan’s ruling lifted restrictions on Trump’s ability to comment on the witnesses who testified against him at his trial, as well as part of the order that barred him from discussing the jury that convicted him — essentially establishing that the work of the witnesses and the jury was thus completed. there was no fear of influencing the procedure. The ruling left intact part of the order that Trump would go after court personnel, individual prosecutors and “family members of any counsel, staff member, the court or the district attorney.”
That includes Merchan’s daughter, who Trump has repeatedly torn in the run-up to the trial because she works for a company used by Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, for digital fundraising. “Maybe the judge is such a hater because his daughter makes money working on ‘Get Trump,’” he wrote in a social media post.
Merchan then extended his gag order to his daughter and another subject of Trump’s attacks, the wife of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Neither Merchan nor Bragg were subject to the silence order.
Trump’s pattern of attacks on family members of presiding lawyers and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose. It only instills fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but also their family members, are ‘fair game’ for the defendant’s vitriol,” Merchan said in his 1 ruling April.
Tuesday’s ruling said these restrictions would remain in effect until Trump’s sentencing on July 11 because “the people covered by that clause must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, intimidation and harm.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung blasted the judge for allowing these restrictions to remain in place, saying it “prevents President Trump from speaking freely about Judge Merchan’s disqualifying conflicts and the overwhelming evidence exposing this entire Crooked Joe Biden-directed Witch Hunt.” This is another illegal decision by the judge. a very conflicted judge, who is patently un-American.”
He said Trump’s legal team would “immediately challenge” the “unconstitutional order.”
Trump was fined $10,000 for repeated violations of the silence order during the trial, most of which targeted his former lawyer Michael Cohen, a key witness for prosecutors.
Cohen ignored the statement in a statement. “Over the past six years, Donald and his acolytes have continuously made negative statements about me. Donald’s failed strategy to discredit me so he can avoid accountability didn’t work then and won’t work now,” Cohen said.
While the ruling now allows Trump to name the jury broadly, he is still prevented from talking about jurors by name or disclosing their personal information under the terms of a separate protective order that remains in effect. Trump was fined during the trial for comments in an interview that the jury was “picked so quickly” and was “95% Democrats”
Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying company records related to money he paid Cohen to reimburse him for a hush-money payment the lawyer made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Daniels testified that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.
Trump had pleaded not guilty in the criminal case and his lawyers have said he plans to appeal the conviction.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
