US prosecutor seeks to gag Trump in his first criminal trial
NEW YORK: The prosecutors in Donald Trump’s first criminal trial next month asked Monday for the judge to impose a gag order on the former president, arguing that he had a record of disparaging witnesses.
Trump stands accused in the case of paying hush money to a porn star, for which he faces 34 counts of allegedly doctoring business records as part of a cover-up.
The gag order request cited threats to the prosecutor and his staff, and comes as Trump faces a variety of civil and criminal legal proceedings.
Separately on Monday, Trump’s team appealed a US$355 million penalty imposed in an unrelated civil case which found he fraudulently obtained favorable loan conditions.
In that case Trump had attacked the judge and his clerk on social media, accusing them of pursuing an ideological agenda, while also accusing the prosecutor, Letitia James, who is Black, of racism.
Given such behavior, the Manhattan prosecutor’s office in its gag order request emphasized that Trump “has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him.”
That included “jurors, witnesses, lawyers and court staff,” it said.
The filing contained a statement from the prosecutor’s police protection officer who recounted how the number of threats to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his office, which is handling the hush money case, skyrocketed after Trump attacked him on social media. Trump – almost certain to be the Republican presidential nominee this November – had vowed to challenge the $355 million penalty imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron in the civil case.
The order also barred him and his sons from conducting business in New York: Trump for three years and his sons for two.
Including pretrial interest charged at 9 per cent, Trump is liable to pay US$454,156,783.05, according to the appeal filing lodged at the New York Supreme Court – with interest continuing to be applied until the full sum is paid.
The appeal means that the case, and the significant financial jeopardy it entails, will continue well into the presidential campaign and possibly beyond the November vote.
Trump has seized on his legal woes to fire up supporters and denounce his likely opponent, President Joe Biden, claiming that the cases are “just a way of hurting me in the election.”
Engoron said in his February 16 ruling that the financially shattering penalties are justified by Trump’s behavior.
“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” Engoron said of Trump and his two sons, who were also defendants, in his scathing ruling.
“President Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump, Allen Weisselberg... hereby appeal to the Appellate Division,” said Monday’s appeal. It was as a property developer and businessman in New York that Trump built his public profile which he used as a springboard into the entertainment industry and ultimately the presidency. — AFP