Trump is now free to rail against hush-money witnesses and Michael Cohen couldn't care less
Justice Juan Merchan lifted Trump's gag on attacking hush-money witnesses and the jury. But he can't refer to jurors by name.
AP
- Donald Trump is now free to rail against hush-money witnesses and his jury, the trial judge ruled.
- He and his lawyers remain barred indefinitely from identifying individual jurors.
- The judge preserved Trump's gag on commenting about court staff and their families until sentencing.
Former President Donald Trump is free to rail away against hush-money witnesses and his jury, the trial judge ruled on Tuesday — but he still can't refer to jurors by name.
Michael Cohen, a key prosecution witness, showed zero concern when told of the gag lift.
"Good," he told Business Insider, his tone defiant.
"For the past six years, Donald and acolytes have been making constant negative statements about me," he said. "Donald's failed strategy of discrediting me so that he can avoid accountability didn't work then and won't work now."
Under a five-page order by Justice Juan Merchan of the New York Supreme Court, the former president remains barred indefinitely from revealing jurors' identities.
Merchan also kept in place Trump's gag on statements attacking court staff and their family members, but that is set to be lifted after Trump's July 11 sentencing.
Trump has fought the gag unsuccessfully on constitutional free-speech grounds since it was imposed in March, two weeks before the start of a trial that resulted in the first criminal conviction of a former president.
"Tens of millions of Americans" want to hear his views on the case, he said.
After the May 30 conviction, Trump's lawyers added a second strategy, challenging the gag as not only unconstitutional but also moot.
Prosecutors did not oppose lifting Trump's gag on trash-talking witnesses but fought allowing him to attack jurors, or court and prosecution staffers and their families.
Lawyers for Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, noted that so long as sentencing was pending, proceedings had not yet concluded.
However, "the trial portion of these proceedings ended when the verdict was rendered, and the jury discharged," Merchan wrote.
"While it would be this court's strong preference to extend those protections, the court cannot do so" when it comes to the jury, which has no further role, Merchan said.
"Nonetheless, there is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors," he added, saying that his March 7 protective order banning the release of juror identities remained in effect "until further order of this Court."
That order prohibits disclosure of the names and addresses of any prospective or sworn juror.
Trump's jurors have remained anonymous and have been identified in public only by a three-digit number. Only he, his lawyers, prosecutors, and court staff know who they are.
Violating a court order can result in contempt-of-court sanctions that include fines and incarceration.