Judge Grants Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg Request For Gag Order On Trump In Hush Money Case

On Thursday night, a New York judge granted the Manhattan district attorney’s request for a gag order against former President Donald Trump.

Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg asked for a gag order on Trump to prevent him from attacking the witnesses and jurors present during the trial in which he is facing criminal charges for paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Bragg argued that Trump’s paying hush money was a form of election interference because it prevented voters from being granted information that they needed to know before placing their votes.

The gag order notes Trump’s history of attacking people who disagree with him, including “witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges and others involved in legal proceedings against him.” A separate criminal trial case has been opened against Trump by prosecutors looking to investigate threats that have been made on social media against one of the witnesses.

The order is reminiscent of another gag order previously upheld by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., in another of Trump’s trials.

In Trump’s federal trial in which he was charged in a criminal case of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, a gag order was approved that sought to prevent him from spurring violence against witnesses, jurors and others involved in the trial. He was granted permission to criticize Special Counsel Jack Smith, the Biden administration and the Justice Department. 

The gag order requested by Bragg will prohibit Trump from “making or directing others to make” statements about those witnesses who have direct roles in the case. The gag order would not prohibit Trump from commenting on Bragg himself but on all other prosecutors, staff members and jurors involved.

Bragg has previously been the victim of many verbal assaults that have included attacks on his race, death threats and many other threats. His gag order seeks to protect others from violent language, harassment and intimidation that could be spurred by Trump’s attacks. It would prevent Trump from knowing the addresses of anyone involved in the trial and would stop him from publicly revealing the identities of anyone involved. 

Trump has been charged with 34 felonies by the Manhattan D.A.’s office. 

This will be the third gag order placed on Trump.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign, Steven Cheung, said this string of gag orders placed on Trump are unconstitutional and infringe on Trump’s “First Amendment rights, including his ability to defend himself and the rights of all Americans to hear from President Trump.”