Written by Luke Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York judge partially lifted a gag order on Donald Trump on Tuesday after the Republican presidential nominee was found guilty of criminal charges related to an attempt to influence the 2016 election by buying a porn star’s silence.
The amended order now allows Trump to speak publicly about witnesses in the case and eases the ban on his comments to the jury, but maintains restrictions on his statements about prosecutors and others involved in the case.
A separate order barring Trump or lawyers for either side from identifying anonymous jury members remains in effect, according to Judge Juan Merchan’s order issued Tuesday. Prosecutors said last week that Trump supporters tried to identify jurors and threatened violence against them.
“There is sufficient evidence to warrant continued concern for jurors,” the judge wrote.
Trump’s lawyers said the gag order stifles his campaign speech and said it could limit his ability to respond to attacks by Democratic President Joe Biden during their upcoming debate on Thursday.
In the first criminal trial of a US president, a Manhattan jury on May 30 found Trump guilty of covering up a $130,000 payment to his former lawyer Michael Cohen in exchange for the silence of film actress Stormy Daniels, who had been threatening to reveal her identity before the 2016 election. The story of a sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump, who was elected to a four-year term that year, denies the alleged 2006 confrontation and has vowed to appeal his conviction. The ruling is scheduled for July 11, four days before his party meets to formally nominate him to challenge Biden for president before the Nov. 5 election.
Merchan imposed a gag order before the trial began in April, arguing that Trump’s history of threatening statements posed a risk of derailing the proceedings.
The judge fined Trump $10,000 for violating the order during the seven-week trial, and warned him on May 6 that he would go to prison if he violated the order again.
Trump’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office declined to comment.
“Free of threats”
Circumstances have changed now that the trial has concluded, Merchan wrote in his order Tuesday. But he said restrictions on Trump’s comments about prosecutors in the case, court staff and their families will remain in place until his sentencing.
“Until the sentence is imposed, all individuals involved in the trial must… continue to perform their lawful duties without threats, intimidation, harassment or harm,” the judge wrote.
Bragg’s office said last week that restrictions on Trump’s speech regarding trial witnesses were no longer necessary. But they urged Merchan to keep other restrictions in place, citing safety risks.
In a June 20 affidavit, the NYPD officer in charge of Bragg’s security detail said Bragg, his family and his employees received 61 threats in 2024.
That included a post revealing the residential address of a Bragg employee, as well as a bomb threat to the homes of two people involved in the case on April 15 — the first day of Trump’s impeachment trial — according to the affidavit.
Defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emile Bove said in a June 11 lawsuit that holding Trump liable for “harassing communications” by “independent third parties” violates his right to free speech.
The matter does not prevent Trump from criticizing the case or from speaking about Merchan and Bragg.