NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors in Donald Trump’s administration hush money criminal case On Monday, he asked a judge to place a gag order on the former president ahead of his trial next month, saying the former president has a “long history of making inflammatory statements in public” about those involved. I quoted what they call it. his legal case.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has issued a “narrow scope” law that prohibits Trump from making public statements about potential witnesses or jurors, or from directing others to make statements intended to disrupt or harass court officials. It is seeking submission of what is said to be an “adjusted” order. , the prosecution team or their families.
The district attorney’s office is also seeking permission to show jurors the infamous “Access Hollywood” video released in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 White House campaign. In the video, Trump bragged about grabbing a woman’s genitals without asking permission.
Prosecutors say that following the release of the 2005 video, a number of women came forward to accuse Trump of sexual assault, and Trump’s efforts to keep negative stories out of the press came as a result. It is claimed that this led to one of the central hush money arrangements. case.
Trump’s lawyers said in court documents Monday that the “Access Hollywood” video “contains inflammatory and prejudicial evidence that has no place in this trial regarding documents and accounting practices.” .
Judge Juan Manuel Mercian did not immediately rule on the claim. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on March 25, barring any last-minute delays, making it the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial.
If a gag order is imposed on Mr. Trump, it would further strengthen regulations that were put in place after his arraignment last April, which prohibits him from using evidence from the case to attack witnesses. Prosecutors are also proposing that juror names be kept from the public in order to “minimize obstacles to jury selection and protect juror safety.”
Prosecutors said Trump’s comments would continue to “pose a serious and imminent threat to the trial by distracting officials, diverting government resources, and delaying the administration of justice.”
spokesperson for President Trump’s election campaign He called the request for a gag order “election interference, pure and simple,” and criticized the hush money scandal as a “sham orchestrated by partisan Democrats desperately trying to prevent Trump from returning to the White House.” did.
Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheres said the defense would respond in court documents later this week.
The Manhattan scandal centers on allegations that President Trump falsified internal records kept by the company to conceal the true nature of payments to former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. The lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 as part of an effort to clear up allegations that Trump had an extramarital affair during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump is Charged with 34 counts of falsifying business recordsis a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, although there is no guarantee that a conviction will result in a prison sentence.
Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, has repeatedly denounced the incident on social media. Warning about “possible death and destruction” Before his indictment last year, he posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat next to a photo of District Attorney Alvin Bragg on social media, calling Judge Marchand a “Trump-hating judge” and saying his family is full of “Trump-haters.” he complained. ”
Trump has already been subject to a similar gag order in a criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C., and a gag order imposed in a New York civil fraud trial after he made defamatory social media posts about the judge’s chief law clerk. He was fined $15,000 for the violation. . In January, a federal judge in Manhattan expelled Trump from the civil defamation case against author E. Jean Carroll after he said, “This is a witch hunt” and “She’s really a fraud.” Then he threatened me.
“As the defendant’s recent history makes clear, self-regulation is not a viable alternative,” prosecutors said in court papers. They say Trump has used social media, campaign speeches and other public statements to “attack judges, juries, attorneys, witnesses, and other individuals involved in legal proceedings against him.” “It has a long and perhaps unique history,” he said.
“Today, the two-tiered justice system in place against President Trump is on full display, with another deranged Democratic prosecutor We are requesting that a gag order be imposed, and if approved, it will be issued.” It is an unconstitutional violation of President Trump’s First Amendment rights, including his ability to protect himself and the right of all Americans to be heard by him. ”
The requested gag order would not prevent President Trump from commenting on Democratic Party-elect Bragg.
Still, prosecutors say President Trump’s hostility toward Bragg has led to a spike in threats against prosecutors and the district attorney’s office, including posts on Truth Social calling Manhattan’s first black attorney general a “depraved psychopath” who “hates America.” claims to be connected to.
Prosecutors said police recorded 89 threats against Mr Bragg, his family and staff last year, up from just one in 2022, his first year in office. According to an affidavit from Police Chief Bragg, the series of threats began on March 18, the same day President Trump falsely posted online that he was about to be arrested and urged his supporters to protest. It was the day we called out, “Take back our country!”
Prosecutors noted that a few days later, Mr. Bragg’s office received a letter containing a small amount of white powder and a note that read, “Alvin: I’m going to kill you.”
President Trump posted a post mocking Daniels, calling Cohen, a former lawyer who was a key witness in the case, “a convicted felon who has been disqualified from practicing law and has zero credibility.”
Monday’s gag order request was imposed on Trump in October in a separate Washington federal case charging him with conspiring to overturn the results of his loss to Democratic rival Joe Biden in the 2020 election. It reflects some of the instructions given.
A federal appeals court panel in December largely upheld Judge Tanya Chutkan’s gag order, but restricted it in key ways by allowing President Trump to freely criticize special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the case. narrowed down. Manhattan prosecutors followed suit by excluding Mr. Bragg from a proposed gag order.
Last May, Marchan issued a so-called secrecy order against Trump and his lawyers, prohibiting them from disseminating evidence in the hush-money case to third parties, using it to attack witnesses, or disclosing classified material. He warned that if he posted anything on social media, he risked being charged with contempt.
Citing Trump’s “special” status as a former president and current candidate, Marchan tried to clarify at the time that the protective order was not to be construed as a gag order, saying: stated. Mr. Trump’s ability to campaign for the US presidential election. ”
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. __
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