“President Trump’s opponents and adversaries are using the Gag Order as a political sword to attack President Trump with reference to this case, on the understanding that his ability to mount a detailed response is severely restricted by the Gag Order,” Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in the document that was made public Wednesday.
Biden and Trump are scheduled to participate in presidential debates June 27 and Sept. 10.
Merchan barred Trump from talking about individuals involved in the case before the trial and some of their families members. The order remained in place after Trump’s May 30 conviction. Trump violated the order 10 times during the trial, incurring a $1,000 fine per offense, and was threatened with incarceration if he were to do so again — which he did not.
Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York Supreme Court in a historic case that brought an unprecedented complication to the campaign of the presumptive Republican nominee in this year’s election. In less than two full days of deliberations, a jury found Trump purposely concealed the nature of a $130,000 reimbursement to his former lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016.
Cohen paid adult-film actress Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter that was potentially going to be made public weeks before the 2016 election. Prosecutors argued that Trump called his reimbursements to Cohen “legal fees” to hide what they were to protect his campaign. He did not disclose the expense in disclosure forms.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. He faces up to four years in prison but incarceration is not mandatory.
Prosecutors have repeatedly cited an urgent and continuing need to protect people involved in the case, including the judge’s family, after Trump’s rhetoric resulted in safety concerns. Trump was still free to speak about Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office handled the case. He routinely did so and continues to speak about them at campaign events and in social media posts.
Trump and his lawyers have argued consistently that their client has a right to defend himself publicly and to exercise free speech as the leading Republican candidate for president in this year’s election. The motion claims that Trump’s foes have weaponized his conviction and have taken advantage of his inability to respond.
President Biden “offered a disturbing grin” to news cameras when asked to comment about the verdict, the lawyers argued, they also said Cohen and Daniels publicly attacked the candidate and his qualifications “based on their deeply biased views about the evidence and to make even more money for themselves.”
Bragg’s office said in a letter to Merchan last week that they opposed the immediate termination of the order and they formally responded to the defense’s new bid. Prosecutors said Merchan “has an obligation to protect the integrity of these proceedings and the fair administration of justice at least through the sentencing hearing and the resolution of any post-trial motions.”
