A New York judge has imposed a gag order on Donald Trump, limiting the former president from making statements about potential witnesses in the criminal trial relating to hush money payments scheduled to begin next month.
Judge Juan Merchan also said that Trump can’t make statements about attorneys, court staff or the family members of prosecutors or lawyers intended to interfere with the case. Trump is also barred from making statements about any potential or actual juror.
The former president, Merchan wrote, has a history of making “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” statements against people at all levels of the justice system, including jurors.
I have to disagree, especially in this case.
Forget the fact that his public statements can cause real damage to the targets of his accusations.
The gag order is called for if only to ensure he receives a fair trial with an outcome determined by an untainted jury. Whether he is trying to or not, every public statement potentially removes jurors from the pool by having them create a predetermined opinion on the defendant and the case.
This is literally a case where the judge needs to “protect the defendant from himself” as well as protect the proceedings from a mistrial or future appeals.