The New York County District Attorney’s Office has recently submitted a request to a New York state court seeking to impose a gag order on former President Donald Trump. The proposed order comes in relation to Trump’s impending criminal case involving falsified business records and aims to prevent Trump from releasing “prejudicial extrajudicial statements”.
The extensive, 331-page request was authored by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. Bragg cautions that the gag order is of critical importance due to Trump’s reported history of publishing public, volatile commentary which can disrupt court proceedings. The District Attorney’s request was heavily influenced by Trump’s social media activity, asserting that certain past posts by the former President have incited violent threats, harassment, and more, including death threats directed at Bragg himself and his family.
The imposition of a gag order is defended through citation of the landmark Sheppard v. Maxwell case of 1966. The decision from this Supreme Court case upholds the ability of courts to prohibit parties in litigation from disseminating information about jurors, witnesses, court staff and others that could impede judicial proceedings.
In the past, a similar argument was visited upon the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, where Trump is embroiled in charges accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. However, his request to review a gag order, decried as a First Amendment violation, was rejected by the court.
In relation to the falsified business records case, the charges involve payments referred to as “hush-money” made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election to conceal an alleged affair between Trump and Daniels. The prosecution argues that Trump paid $130,000 to Daniels through his attorney, Michael Cohen, using a shell company to hide the transaction. The court maintains that after the 2016 election, Trump repaid Cohen through monthly payments masked as attorney’s fees. Cohen has already served prison time for his involvement in the alleged scheme, while Trump pleaded “not guilty” to the 34 charges in April 2023.
The case, which Trump previously tried to move from New York state court to federal court, a move denied this past July, is scheduled to commence on March 25.