The Manhattan judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial on April 1 reaffirmed that the gag order he previously imposed on the former president prevented him from publicly commenting on the family members of the court or prosecutors in the case, CBS News reported.
In a gag order issued on March 26, Judge Juan Merchan barred the former president from making public comments on potential witnesses or jurors, courtroom staff, prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, or the family members of either the prosecutors or the court.
Despite the order, Trump continued to attack the judge’s daughter Loren Merchan, who works for a Democrat consulting firm. In the days following the judge’s order, Trump went after Loren Merchan, even posting a link to a debunked article that misidentified an X account as belonging to the judge’s daughter. The account in question featured a profile image depicting Trump behind bars.
A court spokesman later confirmed that the X account did not belong to Loren Merchan.
In response to Trump’s attacks, prosecutors from District Attorney Bragg’s office asked the judge to make it clear to the former president “that the court’s family is off-limits.”
In his April 1 ruling, Judge Merchan said an average observer of the case would likely conclude that even those who were tangentially involved in the hush money case should not only be worried about themselves but also “their loved ones.”
Merchan described Trump’s repeated attacks on his daughter as a “direct attack on the Rule of Law” that would “interfere with the fair administration of justice.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung blasted the judge’s gag order as “unconstitutional” and argued that it prevented Trump from engaging in “core political speech.”
Cheung also suggested that the gag order violated the “civil rights” of Trump’s supporters, claiming they have a “First Amendment right” to read or hear what Trump had to say.
