Manhattan prosecutors are asking the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case involving hush money payments to impose a gag order to stop the former president from publicly disparaging potential witnesses and others involved in the trial.
The gag order request was one of many pretrial motions filed by the district attorney’s office and Trump ahead of the trial, including requests to play the “Access Hollywood” recording of Trump and to bar testimony from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Trump is accused in a 34-count indictment of falsifying business records as part of a cover-up to conceal hush money payments before the 2016 election to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had an affair with Trump.
Trump denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty.
Jury selection is set to begin on March 25.
Here’s a rundown of Monday’s filings:
Trump’s comments have already resulted in hundreds of threats to the office, prosecutors said in a motion Monday.
“Defendant has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and court staff,” the Manhattan district attorney’s office wrote. “Those remarks, as well as the inevitable reactions they incite from defendant’s followers and allies, pose a significant and imminent threat to the orderly administration of this criminal proceeding and a substantial likelihood of causing material prejudice.”
Prosecutors are not asking the judge to block Trump from speaking about District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
They are seeking state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan to gag Trump from making comments about potential witnesses, lawyers…
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