Trump’s Attorneys Ask Judge to Lift Gag Order While Claiming It’s Done ‘Irreparable First Amendment Harms’
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool
Attorneys for former President Donald Trump sent a letter to New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan asking him to terminate the gag order on their client, arguing that the basis for it no longer existed because the trial was over and claiming that it had done “irreparable First Amendment harms” to him.
The ex-president was facing 34 felony counts for falsifying business records regarding alleged hush money payments to cover up extramarital affairs before the 2016 election. It was a historic first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president, and now historic first-ever criminal conviction of a former U.S. president, after the jury verdict — guilty on all 34 counts — was announced Thursday.
Throughout the trial, the gag order imposed by Merchan was a major source of irritation for Trump, especially after he was found to have committed multiple violations, fined several thousand dollars, and warned future violations could very well land him behind bars. He frequently complained in his pre- and post-court rants to the media, as well as in posts on his Truth Social account, that the trial was an unfair “witch hunt” and “sham,” and that his First Amendment rights were being violated.
With the trial over and sentencing set for July 11, Trump’s legal team are preparing an appeal and various post-trial motions, one of which was a letter to Merchan “requesting that Your Honor terminate the gag order restricting President Trump’s extrajudicial statements,” as reported by Law360 New York courts reporter Frank Runyeon.
Runyeon posted a screenshot of the letter on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter on Tuesday evening, cropping off the court and attorneys’ addresses.
“[B]ecause the trial has concluded, the stated bases for the gag order no longer exist,” the attorneys wrote. “The proffered justifications for the gag order, which we disagree with, related to the trial.”
The letter then cited multiple quotes from the prosecutors’ motions and Merchan’s order that described the reason for the gag order as protecting the “trial.”
The letter continued:
Now that the trial is concluded, the concerns articulated by the government and the Court do not justify continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump who remains the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election and the American people. The constitutional mandate for unrestrained campaign advocacy by President Trump is even stronger in light of: (1) President Biden’s May 28 campaign event outside the courthouse during the defense summation: (2) President Biden’s public comments regarding the jury’s verdict on May 31; (3) continued public attacks against President Trump by government witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels; and (4) the presidential debate scheduled for June 27, 2024.
“The defense does not concede that there was ever a valid basis for the gag order and reserves the right to challenge the irreparable First Amendment harms caused by the order,” said a footnote at the end of the letter.
As Runyeon noted in a separate tweet, the gag order had no expiration date, but legal experts had opined that it “already likely lifted” with the conclusion of the trial, “based on Justice Merchan’s rationale and word choice.”
“Trump’s attys now (understandably) seek clarity,” Runyeon added.
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