Former President Donald Trump was issued a gag order for his alleged involvement in a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
According to an order issued by New York State Judge Juan Merchan, Trump has been restricted from publicly posting evidence about the alleged $130,000 payment he made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The order also grants a request from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and places restrictions on what information the former president can publicly reveal regarding new information gathered by the prosecution prior to the case going to trial.
“Donald J. Trump has a longstanding and perhaps singular history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, trial jurors, grand jurors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him, putting those individuals and their families at considerable safety risk,” the DA’s office argued in a court filing last month.
“Defendant has a constitutional right to speak publicly about this case, and the People do not seek to infringe upon that right,” the filing continued.
Trump’s lawyers argued in a filing last week that the DA’s proposed order would violate his constitutional rights.
“The People’s Proposed Protective Order infringes upon President Trump’s First Amendment right to freely discuss his own character and qualifications for federal office and the First Amendment rights of the American people to hear President Trump’s side of the story,” it said.
The order forbids anyone with access to the information being provided to Trump’s team from sharing or revealing it with outside parties, including on social media, without the court’s prior approval.
In a statement, Trump slammed the indictment by criticizing Bragg’s “obsession” with him and adding that the move will “backfire” on President Joe Biden.
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” he said. “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
