The NY judge presiding over one (bc there’s >1) of Trump’s #criminal trials imposed a gag order on Tues that prohibits him from attacking #witnesses, #prosecutors & #jurors, the latest effort to rein in Trump’s wrathful rhetoric.
Judge Juan #Merchan imposed the order at the request of the Manhattan DA, which brought the case. The DA, #AlvinBragg, has accused #Trump of covering up a sex scandal during & after his 2016 campaign [to keep it from the electorate].
…Under the judge’s #GagOrder, Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, statements about #witnesses concerning their roles in the case. Trump is also barred from commenting on prosecutors & court staff.
David Corn on why #AlvinBragg's hush-money case against#Trump matters: "Trump’s Justice Department said the hush-money payment was a federal crime, and its prosecutors declared in an official proceeding that Trump had been a co-conspirator and caused this crime to be committed. Yet nothing happened to Trump." And that was likely due to AG William Barr's interference https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-porn-star-criminal-case/
#Manhattan prosecutors on Mon asked the judge overseeing the #criminal case against #Trump to prohibit him from attacking witnesses or exposing jurors’ identities.
Monday I want to see arrests of people who've been threatening witnesses, judges, prosecutors & their families on behalf of #Trump.
I want to see mugshots & read indictments for true threats made via voicemail, email, & on ANY social media, TS, Gab, Patriot. Win, X, or Rumble.
"Defendant's claim of a constitutional right to levy personal attacks on family members is as disturbing as it is wrong."
#Trump attys argued that it was okay to attack Justice #Merchan's daughter bc she's allegedly engaged in "adversarial campaign speech" by his political opponents.
Judge Juan #Merchan has finally had enough of #Trump siccing his rabid disciples on the judge's daughter.
The gag order in Trump's New York election coverup case has been extended to include staff and family members of the Court and DA Alvin Bragg's office. Trump can (and surely will) continue making statements about the judge and the DA, but family and staffers are now off-limits.
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
Best line of the day goes to Manhattan DA #AlvinBragg:
“The defendant, Donald J. Trump, is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.”
In court papers made public on Wednesday, prosecutors argued the April 15 trial date should go ahead as planned, noting it was Trump’s 8th bid to postpone the schedule as part of his broader #legal strategy to delay all 4 of his criminal trials beyond the Nov #election.
1 wk before Trump’s#criminal trial in Manhattan, appeals court judge rejected effort to pause the case & move it to a diff location.
Judge #LizbethGonzalez issued the decision Mon afternoon after hearing arguments from Trump’s lawyers & lawyers from the Manhattan DA #AlvinBragg’s office.
#GagOrder Against #Trump Is Expanded to Stop Attacks on Judge’s Family
Donald Trump had in recent days targeted the daughter of Juan #Merchan, the judge overseeing his #criminal trial in Manhattan, in blistering social media posts.
“Defendant, in his opposition of April 1, 2024, desperately attempts to justify & explain away his #dangerous rhetoric by ‘turning the tables’ & blaming those he attacks typical of Trump to [#BlameTheVictim]. The arguments counsel makes are at best strained & at worst baseless misrepresentations which are uncorroborated & rely upon innuendo & exaggeration.
The NY judge overseeing #Trump’s upcoming #criminal trial expanded an existing #GagOrder on Mon to bar him from attacking the judge’s family members, who in recent days have become the #target of Trump’s #abuse.
Justice Juan #Merchan last wk issued an order prohibiting Trump from attacking #witnesses, #prosecutors, #jurors & #court staff, as well as their relatives. That order, however, did not cover Justice Merchan himself or the Manhattan DA, #AlvinBragg, who brought the criminal case.
In the expanded order, Justice #Merchan recognized #Trump's "constitutional right to speak to the American voters freely, & to defend himself publicly," & clarified that the initial #GagOrder did not include members of his or #AlvinBragg's family, but wrote Trump’s attacks on family members serve no purpose but to inject fear.
In 2006, …Donald #Trump met the adult-film star #StormyDaniels. According to Daniels, things got intimate. (“The sex was nothing crazy,” she would go on to say.) A decade later, Trump was running for President, as a kind of #Republican uber-family man, drawing crucial support from #conservative, #evangelical voters. Daniels decided to go public: her encounter w/ Trump had taken place while he was already married to his third wife, Melania.
This question is at the heart of this week’s #criminal trial against #Trump—the first against a former President in American history. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which the Manhattan DA, #AlvinBragg, claims was part of a scheme to “conceal damaging information & unlawful activity from American voters before & after the 2016 election.”