NATION & WORLD BRIEFS
Trump gagged ahead of start of New York hush money trial
Former President Donald Trump has been blocked from publicly commenting about the participation of potential witnesses, such as adult film actor Stormy Daniels and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, in his New York criminal hush money case.
The Tuesday gag order from Judge Juan Merchan also bars Trump from publicly commenting on court staff and prosecution lawyers other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg if the comments are meant to significantly interfere with their work in the case. Merchan extended that protection to the family members of staff and lawyers as well, and he blocked Trump from making any public comments about prospective and actual jurors.
The order comes one day after Merchan scheduled the criminal trial to start on April 15.
Bragg’s office had asked for a gag order to protect potential witnesses and jurors, arguing that Trump had “a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks” about people in other lawsuits.
It’s not the first gag order Trump has faced as his legal cases have mounted. Trump was also hit with a gag order in his New York civil fraud case. And his speech was restricted through an order in his federal election interference case that was later upheld, although narrowed, by an appeals court in order to protect witnesses, court staff, and some lawyers and family members.
Texas AG to pay $271K to resolve securities fraud charges
HOUSTON – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and state prosecutors reached a deal to resolve his nine-year-old securities fraud charges, attorneys announced at a court hearing Tuesday morning.
The 18-month pretrial intervention agreement will allow Paxton to walk away from the yearslong case with no charges if he meets the deal’s requirements: serving 100 hours of community service, enrolling in 15 hours of legal ethics training and paying $271,000 in total restitution to investors who put money in a Dallas-area tech startup based on Paxton’s solicitations, according to the terms made public Tuesday morning.
The charges – three felonies handed up by a Collin County grand jury in 2015 – stem from allegations that Paxton sought the investments without disclosing that the company, Servergy, was paying him $100,000 in company stock for each referral.
Paxton remains under federal investigation in a separate matter over allegations made by top aides in his office accusing the attorney general of abusing his position to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was the target of an FBI investigation at the time.