NY judge issues gag order on Trump in hush money trial

[Social Media]

NY judge issues gag order on Trump in hush money trial, blasting his ‘threatening, inflammatory, denigrating’ statements

 

A New York judge has issued a gag order on former President Donald Trump, prohibiting him from making statements about potential witnesses and other individuals involved in the criminal trial concerning hush money payments, which is scheduled to commence next month.

 

Judge Juan Merchan imposed several restrictions on Trump's speech, preventing him from discussing potential witnesses, attorneys, court staff, or family members of prosecutors or lawyers in a manner intended to interfere with the case. Additionally, Trump is barred from commenting on any potential or actual juror.

 

Merchan's decision to issue the gag order stems from Trump's history of making "threatening, inflammatory, denigrating" statements against individuals involved in the justice system, including jurors. The order aims to prevent Trump from criticizing key witnesses, such as his former attorney Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels, who are expected to testify at trial.

 

Despite the restrictions, Trump is still allowed to speak about New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a public figure, and Merchan himself.

The gag order comes amidst Trump's repeated attacks on the district attorney's case and its participants ahead of what would be the first criminal trial of a former president. Trump's trial is set to begin with jury selection on April 15, following a delay due to a dispute over the late production of documents.

 

The charges against Trump include 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursements to Cohen for hush money payments made before the 2016 election to Daniels, allegedly to conceal an alleged affair with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the affair.

 

The district attorney's office sought the gag order to remain in place for the duration of the trial, citing concerns about Trump's inflammatory statements potentially influencing the proceedings.

 

Similar gag orders have been issued by judges in Trump's other criminal and civil cases, including a civil fraud trial in New York and a federal election subversion case in Washington, DC. Trump has been fined twice for violating a previous gag order in the civil fraud case.

Merchan's decision to impose the gag order was influenced by Trump's past extrajudicial statements, which the judge deemed threatening and inflammatory. Merchan emphasized the paramount importance of preventing harm to individuals involved in the trial and maintaining the orderly administration of justice.

 

Despite arguments from Trump's lawyers claiming that his speech should not be restricted as a leading Republican candidate for president, Merchan deemed the gag order necessary to mitigate the risk of harm and ensure a fair trial process.

 

Trump's continued criticism of the case and its participants, both in public statements and on social media platforms like Truth Social, could potentially violate the gag order. Merchan warned that inflammatory statements risk impeding the orderly administration of the court and necessitate heightened security measures to protect individuals and their families.

 

27.03.24

Source

 

[jerrymahoney]

With due respect to Source CNN, in other reports:

 

Judge in hush money case hits Trump with partial gag order
The ruling bars the former president from talking about witnesses and court staffers in the case, which is set to go to trial April 15.

 

March 27, 2024, 2:09 AM +07 / Updated March 27, 2024, 4:52 AM +07

The judge presiding over the New York criminal case against Donald Trump on Tuesday slapped the former president with a partial gag order.

 

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/judge-hush-money-case-hits-trump-partial-gag-order-rcna145170

 

[Tug]

Good hold that fraud to the standard that any American citizen is held to if you or I ran our mouth like trump does the very least the law would do is lock us up,most likely a good (as$) beating to go along with it.enough from this charlatan let’s stop wasting energy on this specimen and turn our attention to matters of importance lock that fraud up!!!

[jerrymahoney]

25 minutes ago, Tug said:

lock that fraud up!!!

DA Bragg has estimated that "The trial is expected to last about six weeks"

 

-- not 6 minutes.

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238639425/trump-hush-money-trial-delay

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

30 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

DA Bragg has estimated that "The trial is expected to last about six weeks"

 

-- not 6 minutes.

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238639425/trump-hush-money-trial-delay

 

 

In this world of immediate gratification, taking one’s pleasures at leisure adds time to savor the layers of delight.

 

 

[Tug]

25 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

In this world of immediate gratification, taking one’s pleasures at leisure adds time to savor the layers of delight.

 

 

I understand and in many ways agree with several caveats #1 there are vastly more important things than the trump spectacle that truly need our attention and unity #2 trump has been defrauding ,ripping  folks off and destroying lives for more like 60 years …….6 minutes…….not let’s get that treasonous fraud behind bars were he belongs 

[Chomper Higgot]

16 minutes ago, Tug said:

I understand and in many ways agree with several caveats #1 there are vastly more important things than the trump spectacle that truly need our attention and unity #2 trump has been defrauding ,ripping  folks off and destroying lives for more like 60 years …….6 minutes…….not let’s get that treasonous fraud behind bars were he belongs 

I don’t disagree.

 

But the justice system is operating in real life, it’s not a movie with a script and a 102 minute show time.

 

Justice is coming.

 

Don’t fall for the constant ‘He’s going to get away with it all’.

 

Relax and be assured that’s not something Trump is in any fit state to do.

[bamnutsak]

Assuming they can seat a jury, and I don't think any impartial citizens would want to be on this jury (I know I wouldn't), this will end up with a hung jury.

 

 

The threats to personal safety, for jurors, are just too much to bear given the volume of trump supporters, and their willingness to use violence.

 

 

https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/PeopleDJT-DecOrderExtrajudicial.pdf

 

Edited March 27 by bamnutsak

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

Assuming they can seat a jury, and I don't think any impartial citizens would want to be on this jury (I know I wouldn't), this will end up with a hung jury.

 

 

The threats to personal safety, for jurors, are just too much to bear given the volume of trump supporters, and their willingness to use violence.

 

 

https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/PeopleDJT-DecOrderExtrajudicial.pdf

 

I don’t do the pessimism thing.

 

Juries have in the past convicted heads of major crime syndicates and mafia gangs.

 

 

[JonnyF]

Ah, I see they are now silencing him as well. 

 

I can see why. If he came out and exposed the truth it would be extremely embarrassing for certain people. The plan appears to be first to silence him, and then to jail him before he can serve a second term.

 

Democracy and Freedom of Speech. US style. 

 

Makes you wonder what will happen when he wins. Could we see the US go full banana republic and overturn the result on a legal technicality like Thailand did, allowing Biden to remain in power? Wouldn't surprise me at this point. 

[Chomper Higgot]

12 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Ah, I see they are now silencing him as well. 

 

I can see why. If he came out and exposed the truth it would be extremely embarrassing for certain people. The plan appears to be first to silence him, and then to jail him before he can serve a second term.

 

Democracy and Freedom of Speech. US style. 

 

Makes you wonder what will happen when he wins. Could we see the US go full banana republic and overturn the result on a legal technicality like Thailand did, allowing Biden to remain in power? Wouldn't surprise me at this point. 

There is in this particular case no reason for your ill informed nonsense.

 

Nobody expects you to know much about anything in the U.S. but it’s not unreasonable to expect you to read an article and at least try to understand what it’s telling you before commenting :

 

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Merchan's decision to issue the gag order stems from Trump's history of making "threatening, inflammatory, denigrating" statements against individuals involved in the justice system, including jurors. The order aims to prevent Trump from criticizing key witnesses, such as his former attorney Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels, who are expected to testify at trial.

 

Despite the restrictions, Trump is still allowed to speak about New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a public figure, and Merchan himself.

 

[JonnyF]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There is in this particular case no reason for your ill informed nonsense.

 

Nobody expects you to know much about anything in the U.S. but it’s not unreasonable to expect you to read an article and at least try to understand what it’s telling you before commenting :

 

 

 

It's already been pointed out in the thread that it is only a partial silencing.

 

There was no need for me to repeat it. Just as there is no need for you to expose your ever worsening TDS. 

[Chomper Higgot]

14 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

It's already been pointed out in the thread that it is only a partial silencing.

 

There was no need for me to repeat it. Just as there is no need for you to expose your ever worsening TDS. 

You soon changed your tune, or are we now pretending you didn’t post this:

 

36 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Ah, I see they are now silencing him as well. 

 

I can see why. If he came out and exposed the truth it would be extremely embarrassing for certain people. The plan appears to be first to silence him, and then to jail him before he can serve a second term.

 

Democracy and Freedom of Speech. US style. 

Edited March 27 by Chomper Higgot

[JonnyF]

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

You soon change led your tune, or are we now pretending you didn’t post this:

 

 

 

I haven't changed my tune.

 

Partial silencing is still silencing. It's already been noted several times on the thread. Your pedantry and trolling is boring in the extreme. 😄

 

If I say you can talk about these 3 issues but not these 5 others issues, do you have freedom of speech because you can still talk about 3 out of 8? Can you claim to have not been silenced? Of course not. 

 

Trump has been silenced. That doesn't mean he can't talk about anything at all. 😄

 

But you already knew that...

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, JonnyF said:

 

I haven't changed my tune.

 

Partial silencing is still silencing. It's already been noted several times on the thread. Your pedantry and trolling is boring in the extreme. 😄

 

If I say you can talk about these 3 issues but not these 5 others issues, do you have freedom of speech because you can still talk about 3 out of 8? Can you claim to have not been silenced? Of course not. 

 

Trump has been silenced. That doesn't mean he can't talk about anything at all. 😄

 

But you already knew that...

There is no first amendment right to threaten others.

 

Trump is free to talk about millions of things, including DA Bragg and the judge himself.

 

What may not do is threaten, intimidate witnesses and jurors in his case or incite others to do so.

 

Your ill informed nonsense is bubbling to the surface again,

 

[JonnyF]

15 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There is no first amendment right to threaten others.

 

Trump is free to talk about millions of things, including DA Bragg and the judge himself.

 

What may not do is threaten, intimidate witnesses and jurors in his case or incite others to do so.

 

Your ill informed nonsense is bubbling to the surface again,

 

 

The left always try to justify silencing people. Normally it's under the banner of hate speech, which roughly translates as anything they disagree with.

 

In this case it's their ability to look into a crystal ball and predict what someone will say in the future.

 

Laughable. Although at least you've moved past the "partial silencing isn't silencing" nonsense. 

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

The left always try to justify silencing people. Normally it's under the banner of hate speech, which roughly translates as anything they disagree with.

 

More self stroke grievance nonsense.

 

The judge has ordered Trump gagged on very specific issues, as already explained.

4 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

In this case it's their ability to look into a crystal ball and predict what someone will say in the future.

Like ‘Foreman of the Jury how do you find the accused?’

 

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

Makes you wonder what will happen when he wins.

 

[Walker88]

4 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Ah, I see they are now silencing him as well. 

 

I can see why. If he came out and exposed the truth it would be extremely embarrassing for certain people. The plan appears to be first to silence him, and then to jail him before he can serve a second term.

 

Democracy and Freedom of Speech. US style. 

 

Makes you wonder what will happen when he wins. Could we see the US go full banana republic and overturn the result on a legal technicality like Thailand did, allowing Biden to remain in power? Wouldn't surprise me at this point. 

The judge is doing Cash Crunch donny a favor.  Did you watch his presser after the Monday hearing?  Whackadoodle donny!

 

From his presser:

 

"You can't have an election in the middle of a political season"

 

“We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already.”

 

"I'm going to bring crime back to law and order"

 

It would take a trumper suffering ACTUAL, not their projected TDS, to parse that word salad into anything remotely close to cognition.

[candide]

4 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Ah, I see they are now silencing him as well. 

 

I can see why. If he came out and exposed the truth it would be extremely embarrassing for certain people. The plan appears to be first to silence him, and then to jail him before he can serve a second term.

 

Democracy and Freedom of Speech. US style. 

 

Makes you wonder what will happen when he wins. Could we see the US go full banana republic and overturn the result on a legal technicality like Thailand did, allowing Biden to remain in power? Wouldn't surprise me at this point. 

In your country, is it allowed to threaten jury members, witnesses and court staff?

 

[candide]

8 hours ago, candide said:

In your country, is it allowed to threaten jury members, witnesses and court staff?

 

Crickets....

It seems UK is also a banana Republic (Kingdom) according to JonnyF criteria! 😀

[Srikcir]

On 3/27/2024 at 4:29 AM, Social Media said:

preventing him from discussing potential witnesses, attorneys, court staff, or family members of prosecutors or lawyers in a manner intended to interfere with the case. Additionally, Trump is barred from commenting on any potential or actual juror.

Missing is judge's family.

Now:

"Trump targets New York hush money trial judge’s daughter day after gag order"

• The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s Truth Social post came one day after New York Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order limiting what Trump can say about the case.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/27/trump-targets-hush-money-judges-daughter-one-day-after-gag-order-.html

Another gag order required?

[Chomper Higgot]

39 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Missing is judge's family.

Now:

"Trump targets New York hush money trial judge’s daughter day after gag order"

• The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s Truth Social post came one day after New York Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order limiting what Trump can say about the case.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/27/trump-targets-hush-money-judges-daughter-one-day-after-gag-order-.html

Another gag order required?

Revoking bail would be a more appropriate response.

[Bangkok Barry]

On 3/27/2024 at 7:48 AM, bamnutsak said:

The threats to personal safety, for jurors, are just too much to bear given the volume of trump supporters, and their willingness to use violence.

 

I don't think you understand the jury system. No-one knows who voted for what, outside of the jury room. Not even the judge.

[stevenl]

2 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

I don't think you understand the jury system. No-one knows who voted for what, outside of the jury room. Not even the judge.

If he is convicted everyone knows how each juror voted.

That's the threat.

[Thingamabob]

10 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Revoking bail would be a more appropriate response.

Calm down old chap, you appear over-excited by this topic. I would only add, as a Brit, that I would try to avoid the US justice system like I would try to avoid the plague. Coincidentally I would also add that, in spite of all the efforts to gag Trump, my bookmaker is offering odds on for a Trump win on November 5. 

 

Cheerio.

 

[Bangkok Barry]

3 minutes ago, stevenl said:

6 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

I don't think you understand the jury system. No-one knows who voted for what, outside of the jury room. Not even the judge.

If he is convicted everyone knows how each juror voted.

That's the threat.

 

Are you saying that in the USA the name of each juror and how they voted is made public, so that they can be tracked down and 'dealt with' by aggrieved parties? Really?

[alex8912]

On 3/27/2024 at 5:30 AM, Tug said:

Good hold that fraud to the standard that any American citizen is held to if you or I ran our mouth like trump does the very least the law would do is lock us up,most likely a good (as$) beating to go along with it.enough from this charlatan let’s stop wasting energy on this specimen and turn our attention to matters of importance lock that fraud up!!!

So when he is locked up you will shut up about him? Amazing! 

[bamnutsak]

This is a pretty weak case, a rube-goldberg-ish legal foundation. It's been called a "Zombie" case, a misdemeanor at best.

 

I can't see him being convicted, there will be a hung jury and the DA will have no appetite to try it again.

 

 

An older article...

 

The indictment that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is currently seeking against former President Donald Trump—over his payment to silence a porn star about their sexual affair—is based on a crime that was so flimsy it was never viewed as a standalone criminal case, according to three attorneys who have worked on that investigation.

 

Bragg, who inherited the investigation from his predecessor, Cy Vance Jr., shut down the wider operation soon after entering the office—and only recently revived this narrow portion as a single case.

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/manhattan-district-attorney-insiders-worry-the-trump-stormy-daniels-alvin-bragg-hush-money-case-is-weak-sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

[candide]

1 hour ago, bamnutsak said:

This is a pretty weak case, a rube-goldberg-ish legal foundation. It's been called a "Zombie" case, a misdemeanor at best.

 

I can't see him being convicted, there will be a hung jury and the DA will have no appetite to try it again.

 

 

An older article...

 

The indictment that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is currently seeking against former President Donald Trump—over his payment to silence a porn star about their sexual affair—is based on a crime that was so flimsy it was never viewed as a standalone criminal case, according to three attorneys who have worked on that investigation.

 

Bragg, who inherited the investigation from his predecessor, Cy Vance Jr., shut down the wider operation soon after entering the office—and only recently revived this narrow portion as a single case.

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/manhattan-district-attorney-insiders-worry-the-trump-stormy-daniels-alvin-bragg-hush-money-case-is-weak-sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

How can the fact that Cohen was jailed for participating in it be considered?

[rudi49jr]

4 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

I don't think you understand the jury system. No-one knows who voted for what, outside of the jury room. Not even the judge.

The MAGA mob won’t give a flying ****: they will just go after all the jurors. Trump will point them in that general direction and his cult followers will do his bidding and threaten everyone even remotely involved.