Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks from the hallway outside a courtroom where he is attending a hearing in his criminal case on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star in New York City, U.S., March 25, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
A judge on Tuesday imposed a limited gag order on Donald Trump ahead of his upcoming criminal hush money trial in New York.
Trump must refrain from making public statements about likely witnesses and jurors in the case, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said in a court order.
Trump is also barred from speaking about lawyers in the case, court staff, employees in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and their family members if those statements are made with the “intent to materially interfere” with the case, the judge ruled.
Merchan’s order still allows Trump to speak out about Alvin Bragg, the D.A. prosecuting the former president on charges of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The decision, which granted a Feb. 22 request by Bragg to restrict Trump’s speech about the case, came hours after Trump tore into the judge as a “Trump Hater” on social media.
Trump in multiple Truth Social posts called on Merchan to recuse himself from the case, and roped the judge’s daughter into his attacks by pointing to her work for a Democratic consulting firm.
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