The judge overseeing the New York hush money trial of Donald Trump has issued a gag order against the former president.
The order prohibits Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and jurors.
Judge Juan M. Merchan issued the order on Tuesday at the request of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg.
The New York Times reports:Under the judge’s gag order, Mr. Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, statements about witnesses’ roles in the case. Mr. Trump is also barred from commenting on prosecutors and court staff as well as their relatives — if the statements were intended to interfere with their work on the case.
In seeking the gag order last month, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors highlighted Mr. Trump’s “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him” — comments that the judge seized on in his ruling.
“His statements were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating,” Justice Merchan wrote in the order.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had posted an angry rant about his former employee, Michael D. Cohen, on Truth Social.
Cohen is Bragg's star witness in the case.
Trump had also taken aim at the judge directly.
“Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. In other words, he hates me!” Trump wrote.
The Republican presidential nominee also took aim at the judge's daughter, writing:His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam “Shifty” Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden. He was recently the judge on an unrelated trial of a long term employee, elderly and not in good health. This judge treated him viciously, telling him either you cooperate or I’m putting you in jail for 15 years. He pled, and went to jail for very minor offenses, highly unusual, served 4 months in Rikers, and now they are after him again, this time for allegedly lying (doesn’t look like a lie to me!), and they threatened him again with 15 years if he doesn’t say something bad about “TRUMP.” He is devastated and scared! These COUNTRY DESTROYING SCOUNDRELS & THUGS HAVE NO CASE AGAINST ME. WITCH HUNT!
Bragg has accused Trump of covering up a sex scandal during the 2016 election by paying "hush money" to porn star Stormy Daniels. These are the first criminal charges ever brought against a former president.
The trial is scheduled to begin on April 15.
