Donald Trump this week violated a gag order in his slush criminal case by attacking a judge's daughter and making false claims about her on social media, Manhattan prosecutors noted Friday.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to “clarify or confirm” the scope of the gag order, which he issued Tuesday, directing the former president and presumptive Republican nominee to “immediately desist from attacks on family members.”
In a letter to Merchan, District Assistant. Atty. Joshua Steinglass argued that the gag order's ban on statements intended to interfere with or harass court employees or their families makes the judge's daughter barred from Trump's speech. He said Trump should be punished for further violations.
Trump's lawyers assert that the District Attorney's Office is misinterpreting the order and that it does not prevent their client from commenting on Lauren Merchan, a political consultant whose company worked on the campaigns of his rival Joe Biden and other Democrats.
“The court cannot ‘direct’ President Trump to do something that the gag order does not require,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Nichels wrote. “To ‘clarify or confirm’ the meaning of the gag order in the way people suggest would be to expand it.”
The trial, which includes allegations that Trump falsified payment records in a scheme to cover up negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign, is scheduled to begin on April 15. Trump denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
In posts Wednesday on his platform Truth Social, Trump wrote that Lauren Merchan “is making money working to 'get Trump'” and wrongly accused her of posting a photo on social media showing him behind bars.
A spokesman for the New York state court system said Trump's claim was false and that the social media account Trump was referring to no longer belonged to Lauren Merchan.
The account on “It represents a restructuring of last April and manipulation of an account that it abandoned long ago,” court spokesman Al Baker said.
In the same Truth Social posts, Trump complained that his gag order was “illegal, un-American, and unconstitutional.” He said Judge Merchan was “wrongly trying to deny me my First Amendment right to speak out against the use of law enforcement as a weapon” by Democratic challengers.
The gag order, requested by prosecutors, bars Trump from making or directing others to make public statements on his behalf about potential jurors or witnesses in the secret money trial, such as his lawyer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen and porn actress Stormy Daniels. .
The order, which echoes what happened in Trump's criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C., also prohibits statements intended to interfere with or harass court personnel, the prosecution team, or their families. However, Trump is free to criticize the Manhattan borough. Atty. Alvin Bragg, the elected Democrat whose office is prosecuting him — but Steinglass wants the Bragg family off limits.
In his letter, Steinglass implored the judge to “make it absolutely clear” to Trump that the gag order protects his family, Bragg's family and the family members of all individuals covered by the gag order. He urged Merchan to warn Trump “that his recent behavior has been aggressive and direct him to desist immediately.”
Violating the gag order could result in Trump being held in contempt of court, fined, or even imprisoned.
Trump's lawyers argued against the warnings, citing constitutional concerns about restricting their client's speech while campaigning for president and fighting criminal charges.
Sisak writes for the Associated Press.
