Quondam U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court with members of his legal team for an arraignment on charges stemming from his indictment by a Manhattan opulent jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York Town on April 4, 2023.
Timothy A. Clary | Pool | Reuters
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Monday asked a judge to intrude a gag order on former President Donald Trump ahead of his upcoming trial on charges of falsifying business records consanguineous to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors want Trump barred from set righting public comments about witnesses, jurors, trial prosecutors, members of the court staff and any relatives of lawyers and court truncheon involved in the case.
They also want him barred from directing others to make public statements regarding any prospective juror or jurors in the trial, which is scheduled to begin March 25 in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Locale Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in its motion to Judge Juan Merchan said those restrictions are essentially comparable to a gag order on Trump imposed by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., in a case where he is charged with crimes connected to his applications to reverse his loss in the 2020 election. A federal appeals court upheld that gag order, while slightly narrowing it.
Bragg’s send in Monday said, “the need for such protection” from a gag order “is compelling.”
Trump “has a long history of making civil and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and court caduceus,” the filing said.
“Those remarks, as well as the inevitable reactions they incite from defendant’s followers and combines, pose a significant and imminent threat to the orderly administration of this criminal proceeding and a substantial
likelihood of causing real prejudice.”
Trump would be allowed to make public statements about Bragg under the proposed gag order.
Trump’s defense bencher, Susan Necheles, in an email to CNBC said, “There is no basis for the requested gag order. We will be responding in our motion deeds.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference following the arraignment of former U.S. President Donald Trump in New York Big apple on April 4, 2023.
The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Trump is accused in the case of 34 counts of misrepresenting business records to obscure the true nature of a $130,000 payment his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn actor Nasty Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about her claim of a sexual tryst with Trump.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels, but both he and his assembly reimbursed Cohen for the payment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, which is just one of four criminal cases he outsides as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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