Trump breaks gag order to call Daniels and Cohen ‘sleaze bags’

Hush money trial involving former lawyer’s payoff of adult film actor to begin next week

Days after a New York judge expanded a gag order on Donald Trump to curtail “inflammatory” speech, the former president tested its limits by attacking two key witnesses in his upcoming criminal hush money trial as liars.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump called his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the adult film actor Stormy Daniels “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!”

In an order first made in March, and then revised on April 1, Judge Juan Merchan barred Mr Trump from making public statements about probable trial witnesses “concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding”.

Judge Merchan’s order didn’t give specific examples of what types of statements about witnesses were banned.

He noted the order was not intended to prevent the former president from responding to political attacks.

The gag order also barred Mr Trump from making public statements of any type about jurors, court staff, lawyers in the case or relatives of prosecutors or of the judge.

Mr Trump is allowed to make critical comments about the judge himself and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

It was unclear whether the judge might consider Mr Trump’s criticism of Mr Cohen and Ms Daniels a violation of the gag order.

Both are expected to testify in the trial, which is set to begin on Monday with jury selection in New York.

It involves allegations that Mr Trump falsified business records at his company to disguise the true nature of payments made to Mr Cohen to reimburse him for a $130,000 (€122,000) payoff made to Ms Daniels.

The payment, Mr Cohen says, was intended to keep Ms Daniels from talking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Mr Trump that the former Republican president says never happened.

Gregory Germain, a professor at Syracuse University College of Law, described the latest post as a “close call” unlikely to result in Mr Trump being held in contempt.

“I suspect he’d argue that he criticised their general character, and was not commenting on their ‘potential participation’ in the investigation or proceeding,” Mr Germain said.

But Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University Law School, said Mr Trump’s comment “brands the two witnesses as liars, which goes to the heart of what the order forbids”.

“That’s exactly what a gag order doesn’t want you to do before trial when a potential jury could be influenced,” he said.

Mr Trump and his attorneys have said the gag order violates his free speech rights and prevents him from responding to public attacks as he runs for president.

Ms Daniels has spoken out about harassment she’s received from the former president’s supporters, who she said were “encouraged and commended” by Mr Trump.

Mr Cohen said the attacks were meant to prejudice the jury’s opinion of him.

Meanwhile, lawyers for two co-defendants of Mr Trump in the classified documents case yesterday asked a judge to dismiss charges against them.

Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-aLago property manager Carlos De Oliveira are charged with conspiring with Mr Trump to obstruct an FBI investigation into the hoarding of classified documents at the former president’s Palm Beach estate.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

Lawyers for Mr Nauta and Mr De Oliveira were set to ask US District Judge Aileen Cannon to throw out the charges they face, a request opposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team, which brought charges against them and Mr Trump.

It was unclear when Judge Cannon might rule.

The two Trump aides are not charged with illegally storing the documents, but rather with helping Mr Trump obstruct government efforts to get them back.

Prosecutors say that Mr Nauta in 2022 moved dozens of boxes from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago to Mr Trump’s residence in an apparent effort to prevent their return to the government and that he and Mr De Oliveira conspired with Mr Trump to try to delete surveillance video that showed the movement of the boxes and that was being sought by the FBI.

Lawyers for the men argue that there is no allegation that either man knew that the boxes contained sensitive government records.

Mr Trump was expected to give a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last night on election integrity with House Speaker Mike Johnson making a visit.

“Election integrity” is a phrase that Mr Trump often uses to describe the lie that the 2020 election was rigged and unfounded concerns about future mass voter fraud.

It comes as Mr Johnson faces an ongoing threat to his job from Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican firebrand.

“The comment brands the two witnesses as liars, which goes to the heart of what the gag order forbids”