Trump bribe gag order remains in effect, New York appeals court rules – National
Two months after his felony conviction, Donald Trump He still isn’t allowed to say whatever he wants about his landmark criminal bribery case. After a New York appeals court upheld his gag order Thursday, he won’t be able to for some time.
The state’s midlevel appeals court rejected the former Republican president and current candidate’s request. last attempt to lift restrictionsbrushing aside a last-minute argument that he is being unfairly muzzled, while Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely Democratic opponent, presents herself as a former prosecutor taking on a “convicted felon.”
A five-judge panel ruled that trial judge Juan M. Merchan was correct to uphold parts of the gag order until Trump is sentenced because the case is still ongoing and his conviction does not constitute a change in circumstances that would justify lifting it.
“A fair administration of justice necessarily involves the determination of sentencing,” the judges wrote.
The gag order prohibits Trump from speaking about members of the prosecution team, court staff or their families, including Merchan’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant who has been a target of Trump’s ire in the past.
In June, Merchan lifted a ban on Trump commenting publicly about witnesses and jurors in the case, and he has always been free to speak directly about the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat whose office prosecuted the case.
Trump’s verdict is set for Sept. 18, but the case and the publication ban could be over before then if Merchan grants a defense request to overturn his conviction in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. He has said he plans to rule on Sept. 6.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche and a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment on Thursday’s decision.
The ruling came a day after Blanche attempted to file papers asking the appeals court to immediately lift the publication ban. With its decision imminent, the court rejected the request, which had called the restrictions an “unconstitutional and election-interfering muzzle” on Trump’s free speech as he seeks a return to the White House.
In a copy of the potential dossier provided to The Associated Press, Blanche wrote that Harris’ recent entry into the presidential race had given the issue new urgency and that “it is unconscionable that Harris can speak freely about this matter but President Trump cannot.”
Latest news from Canada and around the world
sent to your email address, as it happens.
Get the latest national news
For news that impacts Canada and the world, sign up to receive breaking news alerts directly when it happens.
The defense also revived complaints that Merchan has a “glaring conflict of interest” because his daughter, Loren, worked for Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign and that one of the prosecutors, Matthew Colangelo, was biased because he was a Justice Department official under President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Trump is unable to air those grievances himself because of the gag order.
Trump’s lawyers have made several efforts to have the gag order lifted.
Their latest fight has been brought to the state’s intermediate appeals court — the Appellate Division, one level above Merchan’s trial court — after they opposed the state’s highest court. Last month, the appeals court declined to hear a challenge to Trump’s gag order, saying it did not raise “substantial” constitutional issues that would warrant immediate intervention.
In March, Merchan imposed the publication ban, barring Trump from commenting on witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case, after prosecutors raised concerns about his pattern of attacking people involved in his legal cases. The judge quickly expanded the order to bar comments about his own family after Trump attacked the judge’s daughter on social media and made false statements about her.
During the trial, the judge found Trump in contempt of court and fined him $10,000 for the violation, and threatened to jail him if he reoffended.
Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. Merchan postponed his sentencing until September while he assessed the impact of the Supreme Court decision, which granted broad protections to presidents and shielded them from prosecution for official acts.
The ruling also bars prosecutors from citing official acts as evidence to try to prove that a president’s unofficial actions violated the law. Trump’s lawyers argue that his trial was “tainted” by evidence that should not have been allowed. Prosecutors argue that the Supreme Court’s opinion “has no bearing” on the bribe case because it involves unofficial acts for which the former president is not immune.
On May 30, a Manhattan jury convicted Trump of falsifying documents to cover up a possible sex scandal, making him the first former president convicted of a crime.
Trump’s conviction, on 34 counts, stems from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She claims she had a sexual relationship with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.
Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump. Prosecutors said Cohen concealed the reimbursements from Trump’s knowledge by submitting monthly invoices for retainer payments as his personal attorney. Trump’s firm recorded the payments to Cohen as legal fees.
Prosecutors said Daniels’ payment was part of a larger scheme to buy the silence of people who may have gone public during the 2016 campaign with embarrassing stories alleging that Trump had extramarital sex.
Trump has pledged to appeal his conviction, but he cannot do so until he is sentenced.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
