Donald Trump Asks New York Hush Money Trial Gag Order Be Lifted; Prosecutors Point Out Trial Still Ongoing

The Donald Trump porn star hush money trial may not be over yet, but the former president's lawyers have asked Judge Juan Merchan to lift his gag order, arguing that it was no longer justified. Prosecutors were having none of it.

The gag order bars Trump from commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, jurors, court staff, and their relatives. This was put in place by Judge Merchan for their safety as the former president tends to direct his supporters to harass, attack, and threaten these individuals. Trump is free to attack Judge Merchan himself, as well as New York DA Alvin Bragg, however.

Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsification of business records and the ruling by the New York jury was unanimous. It made history as Trump is now the first former president to ever become a convicted felon.

"Now that the trial is concluded, the concerns articulated by the government and the Court do not justify restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump - who remains the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election - and the American people," the filing by Trump attorney Todd Blanche read.

He argued that there is the need for "unrestrained campaign advocacy is even stronger in light of" President Joe Biden's recent comments regarding the verdict, with Blanche claiming that it is part of, "continued attacks" against Trump by government witnesses Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen.

Blanche did note that "the defense does not concede that there was ever a valid basis for the gag order and reserves the right to challenge the irreparable First Amendment harms caused by the order."

Prosecutors Pushing Back Against Donald Trump's Gag Order Repeal Attempt

Manhattan prosecutors soon shot back as Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo sent a letter to Judge Merchan, asking him not to lift the gag order.

In his letter, Colangelo wrote that the court "has an obligation to protect the integrity of these proceedings and the fair administration of justice at least through the sentencing hearing and the resolution of any post-trial motion."

Colangelo also told the judge that he and other prosecutors prefer having both sides submit written arguments to the court on the gag order issue in the next few weeks. Should the judge agree to this, it would keep the Trump gag order in place for e at least until nearly the end of the month.

Donald Trump Hesitant To Release Sealed Documents Regarding Late Friend Jeffrey Epstein

During his interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump vowed that he would declassify several documents to the public, from 9/11 to the JFK files. However, when he was asked if he would declassify documents relating to his late friend, pedophile, and fellow convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein, he was more than hesitant.

He said yes eventually, but that brief moment of hesitancy caught the eye of "The Daily Show," with host Ronny Cheng pointing out that Trump had "the look of panic in his eyes."

"OK, he's definitely in that file. He is in the Epstein files, he's already like, 'Look, there's gonna be a lot of phony stuff in there - names, pictures, my DNA - you can't believe any of it,'" the comedian pointed out. "This is the same guy who said Obama was born in Kenya and Ted Cruz's dad killed JFK, OK? Now all of a sudden he's like, 'Look, if you put some inaccurate information out there it could really destroy someone's reputation, OK, we need to err on the side of caution here.'"

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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