NEW YORK (AP) — Days after a New York judge extended a gag order on Donald Trump to restrict his “inflammatory” speech, the former president tested his limits by disparaging two key witnesses in his upcoming criminal trial under wraps by calling them liars.
In a post Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, Trump called his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and adult film actor Stormy Daniels “two sleazebags who, with their lies and misrepresentations, have cost our country !”
In an order first issued in March and then revised on April 1, Judge Juan Merchan barred Trump from making public statements about likely trial witnesses “concerning their potential participation in the investigation or this criminal proceeding “.
Merchan’s order did not give specific examples of the types of statements about witnesses that were prohibited. He stressed that the order was not intended to prevent the former president from responding to political attacks.
The silence mandate also prohibits Trump from making public statements of any kind about jurors, court personnel, attorneys involved in the case or relatives of prosecutors or the judge. Trump is allowed to make critical comments about the judge himself and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
It was unclear whether the judge could consider Trump’s criticism of Cohen and Daniels a violation of the gag order.
Both are expected to testify at the trial, which involves allegations that Trump falsified his company’s business records to conceal the true nature of payments made to Cohen to reimburse him for a $130,000 payment made to Daniels. The payment, Cohen says, was intended to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump that the Republican claims never happened.
Gregory Germain, a professor at Syracuse University School of Law, described the latest message as a “close call” unlikely to result in disdain for Trump.
“I suspect he would say that he was criticizing their general character and that he was not commenting on their ‘potential participation’ in the investigation or the proceedings,” Germain said.
But Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University Law School, said Trump’s comment “casts both witnesses as liars, which goes to the heart of what the order prohibits.”
“That’s exactly what a silence order doesn’t want you to do before trial, when a potential jury could be influenced,” he said.
Trump and his lawyers said the silence violated his right to free speech and prevented him from responding to public attacks as he ran for president.
Daniels spoke out about the harassment she received from the former president’s supporters, who she said were “encouraged and praised” by Trump.
In a text message Thursday, Cohen said the attacks were intended to harm the jury’s opinion of him.
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