Appeals court rejects Trump’s challenge to hush money gag order

A New York appeals court rejected former President Trump’s postconviction challenge to his hush money gag order Thursday. 

In a terse three-page order, a panel of five judges declined to reverse Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling, which following the blockbuster trial allowed Trump to resume making public remarks about key witnesses and the jury that convicted him but continued to bar him from attacking prosecutors overseeing the case.

“Petitioner’s contention that the conclusion of trial constitutes a change in circumstances warranting termination of the remaining Restraining Order provision is unavailing,” the appeals panel wrote in its ruling. 

The panel added that, despite Trump’s assertions, evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorney’s office demonstrated that threats its staff has received following the verdict “continued to pose a significant and imminent threat.”

Trump can still lodge complaints against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) and Merchan.  

Trump has long asserted the gag order, as well as similar restrictions imposed in two of his other legal cases, violate his First Amendment rights as well as those of his millions of political supporters. His lawyers also told the appeals court that Merchan exceeded his jurisdiction since the trial had concluded, a contention the judges rejected.

Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, made to a porn actor to keep her allegations of an affair with the then-presidential candidate a secret until after the 2016 election. He denies the affair and any legal wrongdoing, has vowed to appeal the jury’s verdict and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

After the trial, Trump again looked to lift his gag order, insisting the restrictions were no longer needed since the testimony had concluded. 

Merchan agreed to partially lift it, enabling Trump to again attack witnesses such as Cohen and the porn actor, Stormy Daniels, as well as the 12 New Yorkers who delivered the first criminal conviction of a former president.  

But at prosecutors’ urging, the judge had refused the former president’s demand to lift the order entirely. The narrowed terms still prevent Trump from attacking line prosecutors as well as the families of Merchan and Bragg. The judge and district attorney themselves have always been fair game.

“President Trump continues to forcefully challenge Acting Justice Merchan’s decision to leave in place portions of the unconstitutional Gag Order, which is meant to prevent President Trump from speaking freely about Judge Merchan’s disqualifying conflicts and the overwhelming evidence further exposing the Harris – Biden Witch Hunt. The gag order is blatantly un-American as it continues to gag President Trump, the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. 

There is no evidence connecting Biden or Harris to Trump’s New York criminal case.