Mum’s the word, according to a ruling by the judge in former President Donald Trump’s trial on falsifying business records, claiming that what he considers the integrity of the trial could be jeopardized if Trump is allowed to refute claims made by porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels testified Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, she went into great detail about a sexual encounter Trump has said never happened.
On Thursday, Trump sought the right to set the record straight, but Judge Juan Merchan refused to relax his gag order, according to the U.K.’s Guardian.
…it was Stormy Daniels Day in Judge Merchan’s courtroom this week, and it is a bit late for the court to express shock over her testimony. It is not the witness, but the case that seems increasingly obscene.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 8, 2024
“My concern is not just with protecting Ms Daniels or a witness who has already testified. My concern is with protecting the integrity of these proceedings as a whole,” he said.
“Other people will see you doing it,” Merchan said, adding, “Other witnesses, including not only Michael Cohen, other witnesses will see your client doing whatever it is he intends to do.”
He said he is muzzling Trump “precisely because of the nature of these attacks.”
“The nature, the vitriol … your client’s track record speaks for itself here. I can’t take your word for it that he says I’m just going to speak the facts,” Merchan said.
Trump has made his feelings known on Truth Social.
Is Trump being persecuted?
“It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want,” he wrote.
“It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time,” Trump continued.
“What these THUGS are doing is AN ATTACK ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND OUR ONCE GREAT NATION ITSELF. OUR FIRST AMENDMENT MUST STAND, FREE AND STRONG. ‘GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!’
“This Judge has taken away my Constitutional Right to FREE SPEECH. I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED,” Trump also posted on Truth Social
As he left court Thursday, President Trump called Judge Merchan highly conflicted over his refusal to call a mistrial and revise the gag order. Merchan’s daughter runs Authentic Campaigns. A firm contracted out with Biden and Schumer. Trump is right. Merchan is conflicted. pic.twitter.com/HTTdopaur9
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) May 9, 2024
In her column in the New York Post, Miranda Devine said that Trump is emerging as the winner despite Democratic efforts to hold him at bay.
“Only Trump could turn the adversity of 88 felony charges playing out simultaneously across two state courts and two federal districts in the middle of an election campaign into a rolled-gold opportunity for free wall-to-wall media coverage,” she wrote.
“Regardless of the details, the dirty lawfare campaign against Trump is backfiring spectacularly,” she continued.
“The message Democrats are inadvertently sending to the voting public is that this guy is so strong that we have to cheat to beat him and, oops, it’s not working.”
