As former President Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial gets underway this week in New York, the CBS News Confirmed team has been tracking potentially misleading stories that have gained some traction on social media. Here are three of the viral claims that have emerged during the trial so far and what you need to know about them.
Claim 1: Judge Juan Merchan won’t let Trump attend his son’s graduation
On Monday, Trump posted to his nearly seven million followers on Truth Social that Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, will likely not allow him to attend his 18-year-old son Barron’s graduation in May.
“Who is going to explain to me, to my wonderful son Barron, who is a GREAT student at a fantastic school, that his father will probably not be allowed to attend the graduation ceremony, something we have been talking about for years,” Trump said. wrote in a post that had garnered more than 18,000 likes as of Tuesday.
The claim was echoed by others online, including his son Eric Trump, who posted on X that “Judge Merchan is truly heartless for not allowing a father to attend his son’s graduation.”
The facts
Judge Merchan has not yet made a decision on whether Trump can attend his son’s graduation ceremony. But on Monday he indicated that he was open to it, although if the process is behind schedule he may not allow it. In an excerpt from the court transcript obtained by Graham Kates of CBS News, Judge Merchan said this:
Regarding counsel’s request to adjourn the Court on Friday, May 17 to allow Mr. Trump to attend his son’s graduation ceremony and on Friday, June 3 to allow a member of the defense team to attend the to attend their son’s graduation ceremony, I cannot comment on these two requests at this time. time. It really depends on how we’re doing on time and where we are in the trial. If everything goes according to schedule, without unnecessary delays, I’m sure we can postpone one or both days, but if we’re behind schedule, we won’t be able to.
Claim 2: Stormy Daniels denies having an affair with Trump
In an April 10 tweet flagged Monday by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a possible violation of Trump’s silence order, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Look what was just found! Will the fake news report this?” The post included a photo of a 2018 letter written by adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, with the statement: “I deny this affair because it never happened.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican operative Roger Stone and others shared the same photo in posts on X that attracted more than 60,000 likes.
The facts
Although it was presented as new by Trump, this letter from Daniels has been public knowledge since January 2018 – and she has since retracted it. A few months after she put her name to it, in March 2018, Daniels moved on”60 minutesto say she was pressured by Trump’s former lawyer to sign and release the letter Michael Cohen and others. Daniels said she had an affair with Trump.
This is what she said to correspondent Anderson Cooper on ’60 Minutes’:
Anderson Cooper: So you signed and released a statement saying, “I am not denying this affair because I was paid with hush money. I deny it because it never happened.” That is a lie?
Stormy Daniels: Yeah.
Anderson Cooper: If it wasn’t true, why did you sign it?
Stormy Daniels: Because they made it sound like I had no choice.
She further told Cooper that she felt there could be legal consequences if she did not sign the letter.
“The exact phrase used was, ‘They can make your life hell in many different ways,’” she said. She believed that “they” in that case was Michael Cohen.
Claim 3: Trump’s silence order is unconstitutional
Trump posted on Truth Social Monday: “This corrupt judge silenced me. Unconstitutional! The other side can talk about me, but I can’t talk about them!” The claim was later echoed by others on social media.
The facts
Judge Merchan’s April 1 silence order prohibits Trump from speaking about witnesses, court staff, family members of court staff, the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Judge Merchan’s family. The judge said the order was necessary because some of Trump’s rhetoric could prevent jurors, attorneys and court staff from carrying out their duties in court.
“This pattern of attacks on family members of presiding lawyers and attorneys has been upheld [Trump’s] matters serve no legitimate purpose,” Merchan wrote of Trump in the silence order. “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 suspect’s vitriol.”
Trump may still criticize Judge Merchan or Bragg. And the former president can talk about the case publicly and call the trial political if he wants.
Many legal experts argue that Judge Merchan’s silence order is lawful and does not violate Trump’s First Amendment rights. Duncan Levin, who worked in the district attorney’s office before Bragg, told Politifact that silence orders “with very limited exceptions, have long been found not to violate the First Amendment… [Trump] is free to discuss the criminal justice system, but not to make ad hominem attacks on specific people involved in the case.”
However, Trump’s lawyers have challenged the order, saying it is unconstitutional because it restricts his right to free speech. Trump’s request to lift the order will now go to a five-judge panel for consideration.
