Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Monday asked a judge to impose a gag order on former President Donald Trump, who is charged in New York with falsifying business records related to hush money he paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump is already under a limited gag order in his federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., and prosecutors in Manhattan sought a similarly “narrowly tailored order restricting certain prejudicial extrajudicial statements by defendant.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts in the hush money case and has criticized Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, as well as witnesses that include Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen.
“[Trump] has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers and court staff,” prosecutors said in their filing, adding that Trump’s remarks “pose a significant and imminent threat to the orderly administration of this criminal proceeding.”
In a series of motions filed Monday, prosecutors also asked the judge to bar the defense from introducing evidence or argument about Cohen’s credibility. Cohen was accused of committing perjury when he testified in Trump’s civil fraud trial and federal prosecutors have questioned Cohen’s honesty.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a news conference at his office in New York City, February 22, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters
Prosecutors are also seeking a protective order that would prohibit disclosure of juror names to anyone other than Trump and his attorneys.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.