Prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to issue a gag order to limit what former President Donald Trump can say about people involved in his upcoming criminal trial in New York.
In a court filing obtained by CNN, prosecutors pointed to Trump’s “long history and continuing pattern of public statements that attack judges, jurors, lawyers, witnesses, and other individuals involved in legal proceedings against him.”
“Those attacks have direct and serious consequences for his targets,” according to the filing. “And those harms are multiplied as defendant’s followers take his lead to pursue additional threats, intimidation and harassment.”
Trump has frequently attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, calling him “a danger to our Country” and calling for his removal, social media posts by the former president show. As a result, prosecutors said they have received hundreds of threats, including two incidents in which threatening messages and white powder were mailed to Bragg. Officials said they have also gotten “thousands of harassing, racist, and offensive emails, phone calls, and text messages related to the People v Trump prosecution.”
Prosecutors asked Judge Juan Merchan to issue a “narrowly tailored” gag order to restrict Trump’s speech and protect witnesses and others involved in the case.
The request comes about one month before jury selection is set to begin in the case.
A grand jury in New York indicted Trump last year on 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. The charges were related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, former Playboy model Karen McDougal and a Trump Tower doorman as part of a scheme aimed at getting him into the White House during his 2016 run for president, authorities said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing, framing the investigation as politically motivated as he runs in the 2024 presidential election.
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