Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Tuesday asked a New York judge to lift the gag order imposed on him in the criminal hush money case, citing his opponent, President Joe Biden‘s 2024 election campaign gloating over his guilty verdict.
Trump has been under a gag order since April that bars him from making comments about the jury that presided over the weekslong trial as well as specific witnesses in the case, family members of prosecutors, and the daughter of presiding Judge Juan Merchan. His defense lawyers pointed to specific moments last week in which the Biden campaign used Trump’s guilty verdict as an excuse to discourage voters from choosing Trump as the next president.
Trump has asked the judge who presided over his New York criminal trial to lift the gag order that prevents him from speaking about witnesses, jurors and others associated with the case. More below —> pic.twitter.com/TTEDiunlvb
— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) June 4, 2024
“Now that the trial is concluded, the concerns articulated by the government and the Court
do not justify continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump—who remains the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election—and the American people,” attorney Todd Blanche wrote in a letter to Merchan.
Blanche argued the justification to lift the gag order is “even stronger” than their previously unsuccessful fight against it while the trial was ongoing, pointing to various public comments made by Biden and witnesses in the case.
Blanche cited “(1) President Biden’s May 28 campaign event outside the courthouse during the defense summation; (2) President Biden’s public comments regarding the jury’s verdict on May 31; (3) continued public attacks against President Trump by government witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels; and (4) the presidential debate scheduled for June 27, 2024,” according to the letter.
The defense attorney cited several precedents they say make their case for lifting the gag order, including Brown v. Harltage, quoting a section that states, “It is simply not the function of the government to select which issues are worth discussing or debating, in the course of a political campaign.”
Trump has continued to rail against the gag order against him and has argued both the guilty verdict and the continued suppression of speech are a form of “election interference” while also claiming the New York case and the three other criminal cases he faces are part of a “coordinated effort” by the Biden administration.
“And I’m not even allowed to defend myself because of the gag order,” Trump told Fox & Friends during a Sunday interview on Fox News. “How can you have a witness like so and so and I’m not allowed to mention his name?” Trump said of the prosecutors’ star witness, Michael Cohen.
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During the trial, the gag order was expanded to cover the family of Merchan after Trump said the judge should be removed from the case over his daughter’s work for elected Democrats who have made railing against Trump’s legal woes part of their platforms.
Trump has sought to appeal the gag order but has so far failed in New York’s appellate division. He was also fined and held in contempt 10 times throughout the trial for violating the gag order, actions that legal experts say could factor into how the judge sentences him on the morning of July 11.