Appeals court smacks down Trump’s latest gag order efforts

A New York State appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s motion to remove the limited gag order placed on him by Judge Juan Merchan in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s successful prosecution of 34 counts of criminal business fraud against the ex-president in the so-called “hush money” case.

Trump was found guilty by a jury and is awaiting sentencing slated for September 18, while making the argument the entire case should be tossed after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled presidents have absolute immunity for official acts while in office. Attorneys for the ex-president argue that now that the trial portion of the case has concluded, the gag order should be removed, while attorneys for Bragg’s Office asked the Court to keep the gag order in place.

The Associated Press reports a five-judge panel upheld Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to not remove the gag order, rejecting Trump’s “argument that his May conviction ‘constitutes a change in circumstances’ that warrants lifting the restrictions.” The panel ruled, “the fair administration of justice necessarily includes sentencing.”

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“Trump’s lawyers wrote that Vice President Kamala Harris’ entry into the presidential race gives the matter new urgency as she pits herself as an ex-prosecutor taking on a ‘convicted felon.'”

According to a Wednesday order from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, that gag order “limited [Trump’s] ability to make certain public statements about court staff, the District Attorney’s staff, and family members of the court, the District Attorney, and their staff, and extended this limitation through sentencing.”

MSNBC legal analyst and correspondent Katie Phang called the ruling “The right decision.”

MSNBC’s Adam Klasfeld posted a portion of the order:

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