Donald Trump Hush Money Trial: Judge Slaps Ex-POTUS With Another Gag Order For Witnesses' Safety
In a move that many saw coming, Judge Juan Merchan slapped a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his porn star hush money trial in New York. This comes just hours after the ex-POTUS attacked the judge and his daughter on social media.
With the gag order being imposed, the presumptive Republican nominee is prevented from "making or directing others to make public statements" about witnesses in the hush money trial, court staff, prosecutors, jurors, or their family members.
Trump has a penchant for publicly attacking court staff and claiming that the judge is biased against him. This often leads to safety issues for court staff and the witnesses against Trump, as his words often direct his supporters to take things into their own hands.
However, the judge did limit his gag order to statements "made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel's or staff's work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is likely to result."
Trump is still allowed to go after AG Alvin Bragg and Judge Merchan, but not the judge's staff, their family members, and the witnesses.
"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," Trump wrote on social media. "In other words, he hates me!"
He then attacked Merchan's daughter, who had nothing to do with the case.
"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 wrote.
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Donald Trump Got 'Most Visibly Irritated' While Judge Questioned His Lawyer
Meanwhile, New York Times senior political correspondent reported that Trump's demeanor changed as the hearing on Monday decided when the porn star hush money trial will begin. She stated that while he started the hearing subdued, he started fidgeting and scowling and grew more and more irritated as the hearing went on.
"He got most visibly irritated - and this is right before the ruling came down reducing the size of the bond - as Justice Merchan was questioning Trump's lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, who had a rough morning with the justice," Haberman said while appearing on CNN, noting that when it started to appear that Trump would not get what he wanted, he became visibly irate.
"This went on and on and on for a while, and Trump was just staring at his lead lawyer as this was going on," she added. However, she noted that "Trump was directing his ire toward Merchan, not his lawyer."
Donald Trump's Lawyers Were on the Defensive
Trump attorney Todd Blanche had a rapid-fire exchange with Judge Merchan over the defense's claims over the number of documents they needed to review. These claims led to Bragg disputing that the Trump attorneys were "actively suppressing discovery."
Blanche, Trump's lead attorney in the hush money case, struggled as Merchan pressed him on how many documents relevant to the case that the defense needed to review. The Trump attorney claimed thousands, but ultimately, Judge Merchan ruled that the DA's office was not at fault for the late production of documents and ruled that the trial would move forward on April 15. This angered Trump even further.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Trump gagged: Hush money Judge drops hammer on Trump - MSNBC