A New York state appeals court on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s challenge to a gag order imposed against him. Criminal case for paying money to keep quietWhere the former US President was convicted in May on charges of paying money to a porn star to keep quiet.
The decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan means the Republican presidential candidate cannot comment publicly about individual prosecutors and others in the case until Justice Juan Merchan sentences him on Sept. 18, seven weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that the order violates Trump’s constitutional right to free speech under the First Amendment.
“This gag order is blatantly unAmerican,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed a close race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is set to become the Democratic nominee.
Harris led Trump among registered voters, 43 percent to 42 percent, a slim margin.
On Thursday afternoon, Trump’s lawyers reiterated their demand that Merchan recuse herself from the case, citing his daughter’s work as a Democratic political adviser and her “longstanding” relationship with Harris.
He also said the “unjust and unconstitutional” gag order restricts Trump’s ability to respond to Harris, who he said has cast her candidacy as a “convict versus a convicted felon.” Harris served as California’s attorney general early in her career.
Marchen rejected a similar request from Trump before the trial began, and he also requested a recusation from the case last year.
The judge had ordered the gag a few weeks before the trial was set to begin on April 22, saying Trump’s history of making threatening statements could undermine the proceedings.
Marchen’s original order barred Trump from commenting on prosecutors, court staff, witnesses and jurors. A separate order against revealing the names of anonymous jurors is still in effect.
Marchen lifted restrictions on witnesses and jurors after Trump was convicted on May 30.
The mid-level appeals court, Appellate Division, said threats received by Bragg employees following the verdict remain a “significant and immediate” threat.
“Judge Merchan did not act beyond jurisdiction in upholding the narrowly tailored protections,” the five-judge panel said.
The appeals court in May upheld Marchen’s original gag order, citing the need to protect people from “threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” and rejected Trump’s First Amendment argument.
The order gives Trump freedom to speak about Bragg and Merchant.
The jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts, including falsifying business records and concealing a $130,000 payment made by former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The payment was in exchange for Daniels keeping silent about a sexual affair she had with Trump more than a decade ago before the 2016 election, which Trump denied. Trump won the presidency by defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.
This criminal trial was the first trial against any American President.
Trump faces up to four years in prison and could also be fined.
It is rare for people convicted of falsifying business records in New York to end up behind bars, especially for people like Trump who have no prior criminal history.
Trump has vowed to appeal his conviction after he is sentenced.
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