Manhattan DA Bragg Asks Judge to Extend Trump Gag Order in NY Case

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Friday asked a New York judge to extend former President Donald Trump’s gag order weeks after his criminal trial concluded and as the former president awaits his sentencing date.

Earlier this year, Judge Juan Merchan issued a gag order that prohibits the former president from speaking about witnesses, court staff, and other people involved in the case, although he is free to target the judge and Mr. Bragg. Later, the judge expanded the gag order to include members of his own family and family members of others involved in the case.

The latest request was lodged days after the top court in New York state, the Court of Appeals, declined to hear an appeal from former President Trump’s attorneys to have the gag order rescinded. His attorneys had argued that the gag order violates his constitutionally protected rights and prevents him from responding to political opponents in the midst of a presidential election where he is the presumptive Republican nominee.

But prosecutors wrote Friday that the gag order should remain intact until his sentencing date, which is July 11.

“Defendant’s demand that this Court precipitously end these protections, even before the sentencing hearing on July 11, is overstated and largely unfounded,” prosecutors wrote in Friday’s filing, adding that Mr. Bragg’s office believes that there have been alleged attempts made by Trump supporters to “identify jurors and threaten violence against them,” citing several news reports for those claims.

“In other proceedings, defendant’s collective references to the individuals serving on juries or grand juries has led his followers to understand that he was attacking the individual members of those bodies and has thus predictably resulted in those followers attempting to find and circulate individual jurors’ personal identifying information,” prosecutors wrote.

It could mean that, if the judge doesn’t rescind the gag order, former President Trump would be prohibited from speaking about certain elements of his criminal trial during his first debate with President Joe Biden next week.

During the roughly six-week-long trial, Judge Merchan fined the former president 10 times and warned that he could jail him for any subsequent violations. The judge has not made any public statements or rulings regarding his gag order after the conclusion of the trial on May 31.

After the judge threatened to jail him, in multiple impromptu press gaggles before court dates and in posts on his social media platform last month, the former president spoke about trial-related allegations in a roundabout way. At one point, former President Trump criticized what he characterized as “false statements” and “lies” that were allegedly made about him during the trial—at the time witness Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels testified in the case.

“This was a very revealing day in court. Any honest reporter would say that,” he told court reporters in Manhattan after the Ms. Clifford testimony, without mentioning her or other witnesses by name.

Earlier this month, former President Trump’s lawyers argued in court filings that the gag order is an “extraordinary, unprecedented, and unwarranted restriction” on his political speech that has caused harm.

“These violations have harmed not only President Trump, but also the constitutional rights of all American people to receive and engage with President Trump’s protected campaign speech,” the filing said.

His attorneys contended that the former president’s “opponents and adversaries” have used Judge Merchan’s gag order as a “sword to attack” him in reference to the case. They also accused Mr. Bragg’s office of colluding with federal prosecutors in the case, which prosecutors denied in the latest court submission on Friday.

On May 30, a jury found former President Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records during the 2016 election. The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges, describing the case and trial as part of a widespread attempt to imperil his 2024 presidential campaign.

The former president has said he would appeal the conviction and has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene before his July sentencing date.

On Friday, former President Trump again targeted Mr. Bragg in a Truth Social post. “I DID NOTHING WRONG on the D.A. Alvin Bragg case, it was only because my name is TRUMP that they went after me,” he said.

In a post-trial news conference, Mr. Bragg did not say whether his office would seek a prison term for the former president. The judge has also made no indication on how he’ll approach sentencing.

When the New York Court of Appeals dismissed the Trump appeal earlier in the week, it did so “upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”