'Reprehensible': Hush money prosecutor demands stricter gag order against Trump
The prosecutor in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money case Monday demanded a stricter gag order to clamp down on his "dangerous, violent, and reprehensible rhetoric," court records show.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed his motion to New York City Justice Juan Merchan, whose daughter has been the subject of repeated attacks from Trump on his social media site Truth Social, according to court records.
"[Trump's] dangerous, violent, and reprehensible rhetoric fundamentally threatens the integrity of these proceedings and is intended to intimidate witnesses and trial participants alike—including this Court," Bragg wrote.
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"This Court can and should clarify or extend the Order to protect family members of the Court on the record described below, and should warn defendant that any future disregard of the Order will result in sanctions."
Bragg's demand comes after Trump's attorneys argued Merchan's daughter was fair game for character attacks because she had engaged in political speech, noted reporter Adam Klasfield, among the first to spot the new filing.
"But Bragg calls this a 'fig leaf' and a 'fiction,' rejected by a state judicial ethics committee last year," Klasfield wrote.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, is slated to see his trial begin in mid-April, court records show.
Bragg contends Trump illegally funneled cash to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
This is one of three criminal court cases Trump faces linked to charges of election interference, the other two pertaining to his actions between the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6, 2021.
On Monday, Bragg rebutted the former president's claim that his social media attacks were his constitutional right.
""Defendant’s claim of a constitutional right to levy personal attacks on family members is as disturbing as it is wrong," Bragg wrote.