Manhattan prosecutors on Monday asked the judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald J. Trump to bar the former president from attacking witnesses or revealing the identity of jurors.
The complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office cites Trump's “long history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him.”
In outlining the precisely crafted gag order, the agency closely followed the terms of a similar order upheld by a federal appeals court in Washington in another Trump criminal case.
If approved by a judge, the Manhattan gag order would prohibit Mr. Trump from “making any statements or directing others to make statements” about witnesses regarding their role in the case. District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg also asked Mr. Trump to bar prosecutors and court officials other than Mr. Bragg from commenting on the case.
Although Mr. Bragg has committed himself to calling for a gag order, the district attorney is bearing the brunt of attacks from Mr. Trump and his supporters. In an affidavit released Monday, his security chief cited some of the worst of the dozens of attacks directed at Mr. Bragg in the last year, including racial slurs and death threats. listed.
In a separate submission, Mr. Bragg focused particularly on protections for jurors. Prosecutors asked that Trump be barred from publicly identifying himself. And while Mr. Trump and his legal team are allowed to know the names of the jurors, Mr. Bragg asked that the addresses of the jurors be kept secret from the former president.
If Judge Juan M. Machan accepts the restrictions, he would become just the latest judge to impose a gag order on a former president. In the Washington case, the order was issued in a federal case involving accusations that Trump plotted to overturn the 2020 election. The judge in Trump's recently concluded civil fraud trial also ordered him not to comment on court officials.
Special Counsel Jack Smith is also seeking protection for witnesses in a federal trial in Florida where Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents. Prosecutors have fiercely opposed attempts by Trump's lawyers to include the names of about two dozen potential witnesses in public filings, saying they could be harassed or intimidated. Prosecutors have also opened a separate criminal investigation into threats made on social media against one of the witnesses.
The Manhattan criminal case is the first of four indictments brought against Trump and is scheduled to go to trial on March 25th. Last year, the district attorney's office charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of orchestrating a cover-up. About a possible sex scandal with a porn star that may have crippled his 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr. Trump's lawyers are likely to oppose the gag order and could file an appeal if Judge Marchand adopts it. Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, declined to comment on the prosecution's proposal, saying the defense's court documents speak for themselves.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan said of Bragg's request, “A restrictive gag order would be a constitutional violation of President Trump's First Amendment rights, including his ability to protect himself and his civil rights.” “It would impose a violation of the law,” he said. All Americans should listen to President Trump. ”
The former president took great pleasure in publicly attacking former fixer Michael D. Cohen, who is now one of Mr. Bragg's key witnesses. Mr. Cohen paid the porn actress $130,000 in hush money to silence her story about her affair with Mr. Trump, which was later repaid by Mr. Trump.
The lawsuit hinges on compensation for Mr. Cohen. Prosecutors say Trump knew his company was falsifying internal records to label the refunds as “legal fees” that were part of an “attorney's contract.”
Mr. Bragg branded Mr. Trump's actions as election interference and argued that a cover-up withheld vital information from voters just before they went to the polls.
But in a filing Monday, Trump's lawyers called the allegations irrelevant and asked prosecutors to refrain from alleging that their client was trying to influence the election.
The defense wrote that Bragg said that “candidates' efforts to prevent negative publicity about themselves during the campaign amount to fraud.” They said the argument is not based on law and “is an extraordinary perversion of our election system and the First Amendment.”
Trump's lawyers also asked the judge to block Cohen from testifying.
'Michael Cohen is a liar,' the former president's lawyers wrote, accusing him of perjury in Trump's civil fraud trial and saying Cohen's public statements suggest he plans to lie again. He said that it shows. (The judge in the civil fraud case concluded that Mr. Cohen “told the truth.”)
Mr. Cohen himself fired back on Monday, saying in a text message, “As the March 25th date gets closer and closer, Donald and the Misfits' lawyers will try to concoct new ways to delay this case.” Stated.
In a separate motion filed Monday, prosecutors offer a kind of guide to the case and say they hope to include other hush-money kickbacks allegedly orchestrated by Trump. suggested. One was with a former Playboy model, one was with a former Playboy model, and the other was with a doorman. To sell embarrassing stories about Trump in 2015.
In laying the groundwork for telling that epic story, they asked Judge Marchand to record Trump's infamous “Access Hollywood” recording in which he bragged about groping women, as well as three other public recordings. and requested permission to introduce evidence from the 2016 presidential election campaign. Allegations of sexual assault made against him after the recording was released.
There is a high standard for introducing evidence not directly related to the conduct outlined in the indictment, and it is far from clear whether Judge Marchan will grant the prosecution's request. Persuading him that the sexual assault allegation should be allowed will be particularly difficult given that judges have a duty to carefully evaluate evidence that could unfairly prejudice a defendant in the eyes of jurors. There is a possibility that it will become.
Prosecutors said Monday they were more concerned about the defendant endangering jurors. The district attorney's office is trying to limit Trump's ability to reveal their names in recent years in which Trump has attacked jurors, including in the 2020 trial of his colleague Roger Stone. An example of this was given. Prosecutors say that while still president, Trump called the jury foreman “totally biased,” “a disgrace,” and “a disgrace!”
Alan Feuer Contributed to the report.
