Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell on Wednesday criticized the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money case for issuing a broad and unclear gag order against him on Tuesday.
Judge Juan Merchan issued the order, which prevents the former president from making statements regarding witnesses, prosecutors other than the district attorney, court staff, their families and prospective jurors. Terrell said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” that the order is unfair to Trump, lacks precedent and is not based on evidence.
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“That ruling is vague and ambiguous,” Terrell said. “Who is complaining, Bill? Where is the evidentiary hearing of the witnesses, the council members who are being threatened? They are limiting Trump’s right to articulate his viewpoint in the court of public opinion. And I will challenge you, Bill and everyone watching. Name me a case like this where the judge is drawing his conclusions from. This man is running for the highest office in the nation, and he is the leading candidate, and they are saying you can’t talk about public figures. Michael Cohen, who has a podcast, Stormy Daniels, give me an evidentiary hearing to prove this gag order is necessary.”
Merchan decided Monday that the trial will begin on April 15, rejecting Trump’s request to delay the proceedings further.
Trump’s “extrajudicial statements went far beyond defending himself against ‘attacks’ by ‘public figures,’” the judge’s order states. “Indeed, his statements were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating, and the targets of his statements ranged from local and federal officials, court and court staff, prosecutors and staff assigned to the cases, and private individuals including grand jurors performing their civic duty … Such inflammatory extrajudicial statements undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of this Court.”
Trump railed against the order on Wednesday, calling it “illegal, un-American, unconstitutional” in a Truth Social post.
The former president was indicted in April 2023 on 34 counts of allegedly falsifying business records relating to alleged hush money payments distributed to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels for her to be silent about an alleged extramarital affair.
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