By Wonderwall.com Editors
12:57pm PDT, Apr 3, 2024
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The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush-money case has expanded the gag order against the former president after Trump repeatedly attacked the judge's daughter on social media.
Granting a request from Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg on April 1, Justice Juan Merchan updated the initial gag order to include his and Bragg's family members, according to The New York Times. Merchan and Bragg themselves remain excluded from the order, which bars Trump from commenting publicly on jurors, witnesses, court staff, attorneys and their family members in a way that could interfere with the case, which goes to trial April 15.
"This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose," Merchan wrote. "It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are 'fair game' for defendant's vitriol."
In his ruling, Merchan added that Trump has a right "to speak to the American voters freely and to defend himself publicly," but said the former president's remarks on Truth Social do not amount to "core political speech," as Trump's attorneys have claimed. Rather, Merchan wrote, the inflammatory comments threaten "the integrity of the judicial proceedings."
The ruling comes after Trump attacked Merchan's daughter by name, posted photos of her and falsely accused her of posting photos of him behind bars on X. The account from which the photos were posted was not hers, according to evidence made public by court officials. Trump has suggested Merchan's daughter, a political consultant, is conspiring against him.
Keep reading for more…
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In his initial March 26 ruling, Judge Juan Merchan cited Donald Trump's history of making "threatening, inflammatory [and] denigrating" remarks about a wide range of people with ties to the justice system in his criminal cases. Trump's past comments, Merchan added, have induced "fear" in those targeted and led to threats to their safety. Merchan, as well as the judges overseeing Trump's civil fraud trial and his federal election interference case and some members of their families, have all received threats following Trump's public attacks, according to NBC News.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up what prosecutors say were reimbursements for a $130,000 hush-money payment former lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly forked over to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. The payment to Daniels was meant to kill potentially incriminating stories about Trump that could have hurt his 2016 presidential campaign, according to prosecutors. Daniels has long claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, when he was married to Marla Maples. He denies the claim and has pleaded not guilty.
MORE: See all the Trump-owned properties at risk of being siezed to pay his $464M bond
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After the gag order was issued on March 26, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, "This Judge, by issuing a vicious 'Gag Order,' is wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement." He added that Merchan is "suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome."
His attacks escalated from there.
Slated to begin jury selection on April 15, the hush-money case is currently the only one of Trump's four criminal cases with a scheduled trial date. By the time the April date was scheduled, the trial had already been delayed by more than a month so Trump's attorneys could have 30 days to review new documents related to Michael Cohen's testimony.
Trump's lawyers have also pushed for delays in his other cases.
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After leaving the courthouse on March 25, Donald Trump held a press conference at the property he leases at 40 Wall St. in New York City, where he repeated his claims the trial amounts to "election interference."
"I don't know how you can have a trial that is going on right in the middle of the election," Trump said, per The New York Times. "It's not fair."
Trump is now basically assured he has the Republican nomination and has not staged a campaign event for weeks, according to the Times.
"You have a case which … they're dying to get this thing started. The judge cannot go faster. He wants to get it started so badly," he said at one point.
If the trial begins April 15, as planned, it will have been a year since the charges against Trump were filed.
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Meanwhile, the former adult film star at the center of the hush-money case, Stormy Daniels, has said she accepted Donald Trump's $130,000 payment to stay quiet about their alleged affair because she was afraid for her life.
"I was f****** terrified!" Daniels says in Peacock's new film "Stormy," per The Hill. "I mean, people have been suspiciously killed for political reasons."
In the documentary, Daniels recalls being warned by a friend during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign that her alleged 2006 affair with the future candidate made her dangerous to the "whole Republican party." As the friend put it, "politicians like to make their problems go away," according to Daniels.
The actress says she ultimately accepted the money from Trump's attorney Michael Cohen, to protect herself and her family. "There would be a paper trail and money trail linking me to Donald Trump so that he could not have me killed," she reasoned. "All I had to do was sign this piece of paper and collect $130,000."
That "paper and money trail" — and others like it — are now at the heart of Trump's criminal case in New York, where prosecutors claim Trump falsified business records to cover up payments he made to Cohen as reimbursement for what Cohen paid Daniels to stay quiet.
Keep reading for more of the latest in Trump's hush-money case before it goes to trial in April … and click through for photos from his last hearing on the matter…
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On Feb. 15, Judge Juan Merchan denied Donald Trump's attempt to get the criminal charges against him tossed in the hush-money case. Trump, who attended the New York City hearing where the decision was announced, is now set to become the first former president facing criminal prosecution.
At the February hearing, the former president's lawyers balked at the initial March 25 start date, saying it would interfere with their client's current presidential campaign plans.
Trump made similar — and harsher — claims outside the courtroom after the proceedings.
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Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed the charges brought against him as "election interference." Prosecutors, meanwhile, have alleged the payments were made to "conceal damaging information from the voting public" while violating campaign finance laws, according to PBS.
As for the specific allegations, Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, reportedly paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 and launched a "catch-and-kill" scheme with the National Enquirer to pay Karen McDougal $150,000. Cohen said the Trump Organization then paid him back $420,000 — a larger amount than what the attorney allegedly forked over on Trump's behalf in hush-money payments.
Prosecutors say the payments were cited as legal expenses in the company's business records.
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Donald Trump appears during a court hearing at the New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Feb. 15, 2024.
According to reports, Trump watched the Feb. 15 court proceedings quietly from the defense table as his attorneys complained the March 25 trial start date would interfere with his presidential campaign plans.
In January, Trump attended court dates he was not required to be present for in his civil defamation case against writer E. Jean Carroll. In fundraising emails sent out by his campaign, the former president falsely said he'd been forced to attend those hearings, according to The New York Times.
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Speaking outside the courtroom on Feb. 15, Donald Trump claimed the case was keeping him from his campaign duties in South Carolina, even though he was not required to attend the hearing that day since the judge already waived his pretrial appearance requirements.
"How can you run for election and be sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long?" he said before the hearing, per CNN. "I'm supposed to be in South Carolina right now, where other people are, and where, again — this is where I should be. I shouldn't be in a courthouse."
After the hearing, he reportedly told press, "So instead of being in South Carolina and other states, campaigning, I'm stuck here."
In fact, the former president had no campaign appearances on his schedule until Feb. 17, with his first South Carolina appearance slated for the week after the New York City hearing. He was expected to return to his home in Florida after the hearing in New York City, the outlet reported.
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Speaking outside a New York City courtroom on Feb. 15, Donald Trump also reiterated his claims that the hush-money case against him amounts to "election interference," according to reports.
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The timing of the hush-money trial became a sticking point for Donald Trump's legal team in the Feb. 15 hearing.
"We have been faced with compressed and expedited schedules in every one of those trials," said the former president's attorney, Todd Blanche, per CBS News.
"We — meaning myself, the firm and President Trump — have been put into an impossible position," he added.
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Judge Juan M. Merchan told Donald Trump's lawyer that the former president will not "be in more than one criminal trial at once," noting he'd been in touch with U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan regarding the former president's planned federal prosecution in Washington, D.C., according to CBS.
At the time, Trump was also taking his immunity claim in that case to the Supreme Court. As of March 19, oral arguments in that case were slated to begin on April 25.
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Near the end of the Feb. 15 hearing, one of Donald Trump's lawyers complained to the judge about "the fact that President Trump is now going to spend the next two months working on this trial instead of campaigning," saying that's "something that shouldn't happen in this country."
Judge Merchan responded by asking, "What's your legal argument? That is not a legal argument," according to CBS News.
"I'll see you on March 25," he added. As of March 21, the trial was scheduled to begin in mid-April.
Click through for more photos and details…
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley tweeted about Donald Trump's hearing in New York City on Feb. 15, calling his legal problems a drain on the GOP's strength.
"Donald Trump is in court today," she posted on X. "There will be a verdict on another case tomorrow. And he has a trial starting March 25. Meanwhile, he's spending millions of campaign donations on legal fees. All of this chaos will only lead to more losses for Republicans up and down the ticket."
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Donald Trump was photographed arriving at Manhattan Criminal Court to attend a hearing in New York City on Feb. 15.
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Donald Trump was photographed entering a Lower Manhattan courtroom in New York City on Feb. 15 ahead of a pre-trial hearing in his hush-money case.
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Donald Trump attended a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on on Feb. 15.
In 2023, Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential infidelity scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election.
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Donald Trump was spotted speaking to press and others outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of his hearing in New York City on Feb. 15.
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Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was photographed on his way to court in New York City on Feb. 15.
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Donald Trump waved to photographers outside his building in New York City before a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 15.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at Criminal Court for a pre-trial hearing in a hush-money case related to the 2016 election in New York City on March 25.
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Donald Trump was photographed arriving at a pre-trial hearing in a hush-money case at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on Feb. 15.
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Donald Trump arrived for a pre-trial hearing in his hush-money case at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on Feb. 15.
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Donald Trump appeared in New York City Criminal Court with his attorney, Susan Necheles, on March 25. He attended a hearing to determine the date of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments related to alleged extramarital affairs before and after the 2016 election.
