Manhattan DA Bragg Wants Trump Placed Under Gag Order Ahead of Trial

Manhattan DA Bragg Wants Trump Placed Under Gag Order Ahead of Trial


Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seems to be adopting strategies similar to those employed by other Democratic officials involved in prosecuting former President Donald Trump on multiple allegations.

Bragg is seeking a court-ordered gag order on Trump before his forthcoming trial, purportedly aimed at safeguarding jurors and witnesses in a case connected to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump “has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers and court staff,” the DA’s office wrote in its Monday court filing.

In addition, the filing stated that Trump’s history of public attacks “pose a significant and imminent threat to the orderly administration of this criminal proceeding.”

Mediaite reported that Trump has previously been subjected to partial gag orders in both his federal election interference case and his civil fraud trial in New York. In those cases, Trump directly targeted the judge, the judge’s spouse, and the court’s clerk, even going to the extent of sharing the clerk’s name, photo, and a link to her personal Instagram account, the outlet said.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34-count indictment lodged against him in New York. The charges revolve around accusations of falsifying business documents to hide payments made to Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an affair shortly after the birth of his youngest child, Barron Trump.

ABC News reported that Trump has already launched attacks on “Judge Juan Merchan, as well as witnesses such as Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen.”

The trial is currently scheduled to begin on March 25.

Last year, Daniels lodged a complaint with New York officials asserting that one of Trump’s attorneys in the case, Joe Tacopina, had a conflict of interest stemming from his prior interactions with her. Nevertheless, the New York attorney grievance committee dismissed it, finding no merit to the complaint.

“Following an investigation of the allegations in the above-referenced complaint filed against you, the Committee has determined to take no further action,” Jorge Dopico, chief attorney for the Attorney Grievance Committee of the First Judicial Department, told Tacopina in a letter.

Tacopina had promised not to cross-examine Daniels should she testify in court.


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