A New York judge extends Trump's silence order in the bribery case

The Manhattan District Attorney denounced that the defendant's “dangerous rhetoric threatens” the integrity of the process.

Madrid, April 2. (European Press) –

Judge Juan Merchan, who is leading the case against former US President Donald Trump for bribing former porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known as “Stormy Daniels”, announced on Monday the extension of the silence order imposed last week in the context of the case. Trial scheduled for April 15.

In the decision, Merchan strongly criticized the businessman for a series of posts on his social network, Truth Social, in which he attacked his daughter since the imposition of the silence order, and which included jurors, witnesses and family members of lawyers or employees. , does not include Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“This pattern of attacking relatives of lawyers and the lawyers assigned to their cases serves no legitimate purpose. It simply instills fear in the hearts of those assigned or invited to participate in the process, that not only them, but their relatives as well, are a ‘white net,’” he wrote. “Because of the ferocity of the accused,” he wrote. “.

This extension of the order comes after Bragg requested the action, noting that “this court must immediately make clear that the defendant is prohibited from making public statements or ordering others to make public statements about court family members, the prosecutor, and all other individuals named in the order.” “

“Defendant’s dangerous, violent and reprehensible rhetoric fundamentally threatens the integrity of these proceedings and is intended to intimidate witnesses and trial participants alike, including this court,” reads the letter, which quotes nearly a dozen of the mogul’s posts on his network. Social. Social truth.

“This case is not complicated. Relatives of those involved in this operation should be strictly off limits,” he said, before adding that “the defendant's insistence on the contrary reveals a dangerous sense of the right to incite fear and even physical harm to the defendants.” “The loved ones they see in the courtroom.”

Bragg argued that the judge should clarify or expand existing language to prevent Trump from attacking the judge's family and his family. This request comes after the former president continued to publish messages related to the judge’s daughter.

For its part, Trump's legal team insisted that such a change to the silence order would only violate the First Amendment rights of the Republican Party's nominee for the election at the end of the year.

Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, wrote, according to the American newspaper “The Hill”, that “Trump did not violate the order of silence, and extending it would exacerbate the existing and ongoing constitutional violations imposed by the order.”