Bragg urges Judge Merchan to punish Trump for 'extreme and deliberate' abuse of gag order

16 April 2024

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is asking Judge Juan Merchan to enforce his own gag order against former President Donald Trump in a new filing submitted to the court on Tuesday.

Bragg's filing — which was first posted to Bluesky by freelance legal reporter Joshua Friedman — accused the former president of blatantly disregarding Judge Merchan's explicit order to not attack potential witnesses, court staff or counsel. The Manhattan DA is specifically asking Merchan to punish Trump with three $1,000 fines (the maximum allowable amount under current law) for three separate posts to his Truth Social platform attacking witnesses, including his former personal attorney Michael Cohen and adult film star and producer Stormy Daniels.

"Defendant is not above the law, and he cannot simply disregard judicial orders that upset him," the filing read. "And both the public and the participants in the criminal trial deserve reassurance that the judicial system stands ready to protect them and to preserve the rule of law in the face of defendant's extreme and deliberate provocations."

In addition to the fines, Bragg is asking Merchan to order Trump to delete the posts in question, reminding him in the filing that Judge Arthur Engoron already imposed a similar penalty in the former president's civil fraud trial that concluded in February. The prosecution argued that removing the posts attacking Cohen and Daniels "would also provide some indication that defendant is willing to "'desist from further offensive conduct' in a way that could ward off further findings of contempt."

"[R]emoval would also help to alleviate the intimidation and alarm intended to be inflicted by defendant's posts on both Cohen and Daniels, as well as on other potential witnesses and prospective jurors," Bragg wrote. "And finally, this Court should warn defendant that future violations of the Court's restrictions on his extrajudicial statements can be punished not only with additional fines, but also with a term of incarceration of up to thirty days."

Merchan's original gag order, which was handed down in March, was expanded in April to include family members of witnesses and of court staff, following Trump's attacks on Judge Merchan's daughter, Loren. Trump argued that he wouldn't get a fair trial in Merchan's courtroom, on the basis of Loren Merchan working for a political consulting firm that represents prominent Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) and that had done work for President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign.

"[Judge Merchan] has now issued another illegal, un-American, unConstitutional 'order,' as he continues to try and take away my Rights," Trump wrote at the time.

Jury selection in the former president's historic first criminal trial is ongoing in Manhattan, with both the prosecution and the defense screening prospective jurors. After the first day of jury selection, no jurors had yet to be seated. While Trump's attorneys are raising objections to potential bias against their client, prosecutors are also wary of a juror being seated who would not be fair and impartial, as any juror found to have not ruled in a fair and impartial manner could potentially have the case end in a mistrial.

Empaneling a jury could take the remainder of the week and potentially next week as well, depending on how quickly 12 jurors and six alternates can be seated. Once the jury has been selected, Bragg and the defense will make their opening statements, then begin calling witnesses and introducing evidence.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged attempt to cover up hush money payments made to buy the silence of women who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with Trump. While the act of paying someone to keep quiet is itself not a criminal offense, Bragg is arguing that the payments were made in the furtherance of Trump's presidential campaign, which would classify those payments as unlawful campaign contributions.

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