A New York appeals court on Tuesday upheld the gag order against former President Donald Trump in his criminal hush money trial.
The gag order bars Mr. Trump from talking about certain aspects of the case, including witnesses, court staff and the families of Judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“We find that Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” the decision said.
“Justice Merchan properly determined that petitioner’s public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well,” it said.
The former president has railed against the gag order on multiple occasions, saying it violates his First Amendment rights. Judge Merchan has found Mr. Trump guilty of violating the gag order 10 times and fined him a total of $10,000. He warned Mr. Trump that any future violations could cause him jail time.
Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with reimbursement payments to his former attorney Michael Cohen. His lawyers said the payments to Mr. Cohen were for legal expenses and not to cover up his alleged sexual encounter with Ms. Daniels.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the gag order “unconstitutional and un-American.”
“The threat to throw the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election in jail for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades,” he told Fox News.