(HorizonPost.com) – The Manhattan judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Monday clarified that the gag order imposed last week prevented the former president from making public comments about the family members of court staff or prosecutors after Trump defied the gag order to repeatedly attack the judge’s daughter, CBS News reported.
In his March 26 gag order, Judge Juan Merchan barred Trump from publicly commenting on possible witnesses or jurors, court staff, and attorneys from the District Attorney’s Office, as well as any family members of either the court or prosecutors. Under the limited gag order, Trump was still free to publicly comment on District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Judge Merchan.
However, even after the order was imposed, Trump continued to take aim at Judge Merchan’s daughter Loren, a Democrat consultant. Throughout last week, the former president railed against the judge’s daughter, even linking to a debunked article from conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer that falsely attributed to Loren Merchan an X account featuring a profile image of Trump behind bars.
A spokesman for the court confirmed that the X account cited in Loomer’s false report no longer belonged to the judge’s daughter.
Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office requested that Judge Merchan clarify the gag order to make it clear to Trump “that the court’s family is off-limits.”
In Monday’s ruling, Merchan wrote that Trump’s attacks would make an average observer conclude that those even tangentially involved in the case “should worry not only for themselves but their loved ones.”
The judge concluded that Trump’s attacks on his daughter would “interfere with the fair administration of justice” and described them as “a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself.”
The Trump campaign declared the judge’s order “unconstitutional.”
In a statement to CBS News, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung claimed that the gag order infringed on the former president’s right to engage in “core political speech.”
Cheung added that the judge was also violating the “civil rights of over 100 million” Trump supporters who have a “First Amendment right” to hear what Trump had to say.
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