Former President Trump faced a gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan during his criminal trial in Manhattan court, prohibiting him from speaking publicly about witnesses and family members of certain court officials. The district attorney accused Trump of violating the order 11 times last week, calling on Merchant to impose fines for each incident. Merchant sided with prosecutors on at least eight occasions during the trial’s second week.
Trump condemned anti-Israel protests taking place at college campuses across the country and compared them to Charlottesville and January 6, questioning whether the Justice Department would prosecute campus protestors as aggressively as it has done with those who participated in these events. Later that day during a media briefing regarding his court proceedings, Trump questioned if there was going to be “the same kind of treatment they gave J6” for anti-Israel protests at college campuses.
Former President Trump’s trial is attracting support from longstanding critics such as attorney George Conway who has been critical of the former president since 2018, despite his wife Kellyanne Conway working in the administration during this time. A coalition of anti-Trump legal pundits gather on Zoom each Friday to discuss updates regarding Trump’s trials and court cases, including Conway, liberal constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe, Republican pundit Bill Kristol, White House counsel under Nixon John Dean, among others.
The trial revolves around former President Trump’s payment of $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential election campaign allegedly to quiet their claims about affairs with him in previous years. Prosecutors allege that these payments were falsely labeled as legal fees by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, who has been convicted of several crimes related to this matter. The case is based on charges of falsifying business records in the first degree which are typically considered misdemeanours; however, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argues that these alleged falsehoods were committed “in furtherance of another crime” – a violation referred to as conspiracy to promote or prevent election.
During his criminal trial, former Trump World Tower doorman Dino Sajudin testified that he was paid $30,000 by American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, in 2016 for “catch and kill” purposes to bury negative stories about high-profile individuals including Trump. Pecker described said the practice of purchasing stories with no intention of publishing them was used beyond Trump’s case – covering other well known figures like professional golfer Tiger Woods and former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, among others during his tenure as CEO at American Media Inc.
Trump has been accused by prosecutors of violating the court-imposed gag order on 10 occasions so far in this trial; they are requesting a $1,000 fine for each violation and have also asked that Trump be held in contempt of court. The judge is expected to hold a hearing regarding these alleged breaches next Wednesday.
As President Biden visits swing states during his re-election campaign trail, former President Donald Trump is prevented from following the same strategy given current ongoing legal issues. Despite this setback, however, the indictments against him have become central to his presidential campaign with frequent references made by his team about “election interference” and accusations that Biden has been trying to prevent him from actively running for president in response to these criminal cases. The high profile nature of Trump’s trials ensures significant media coverage even without his presence on the trail, which could potentially help keep him at the forefront of current events despite being unable to campaign as freely as he would like due to court appearances required by ongoing legal issues.
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