Image source, Getty Images
- author, Max Matza
- role, BBC News
Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump have asked the judge presiding over his hush money lawsuit in New York to lift a gag order against him now that the trial has concluded.
The letter sent to Judge Juan Marchan on Monday argues that the court's concerns “do not justify continued restrictions on President Trump's free speech.”
On Thursday, Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with paying a porn actress to silence her allegations that she had had sex with him.
The gag order was issued on March 26 and bars Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court officials and their families.
In a letter to the judge, Trump's lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, wrote that Trump should enjoy “unrestricted campaigning.”
They say his case has become “even stronger” after his political opponent, US President Joe Biden, spoke publicly about the matter.
He added that Trump is now left unable to defend himself against “sustained public attacks” by prosecution witnesses, including his former lawyer Michael Cohen and porn star Stormy Daniels.
The letter also references Trump's participation in the first presidential debate with Biden, scheduled for June 27.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Marchan on July 11, four days before he is officially announced as the Republican presidential nominee.
His team has repeatedly requested that the gag order be lifted, but judges have denied it.
During the trial, Judge Marchan fined Trump $10,000 (£7,800) for breaching the gag order and threatened to jail him if he continued to speak out.
“The last thing I want to think about is prison,” Judge Marchan told him in court. “You [the] Former president and possibly the next president.”
“Your continued and willful violations of the court's orders … amount to a direct attack … which will not be allowed to continue,” he said.
The order still gave President Trump the right to criticize District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Marchan, who filed the lawsuit against him.
Prosecutors had argued that the gag order was necessary to protect the integrity of the criminal trial and to avoid prejudicing the jury.
President Trump told reporters on Friday that he believes the gag order should have expired at the end of the trial and that his lawyers have asked Judge Marchan for an explanation.
“I'm under a gag order. A horrible gag order,” he said from Trump Tower after the verdict.
Of Cohen, the prosecution's key witness, he said, “There's a gag order that means I'm not allowed to use his name.”
Biden also called Trump a “convicted felon” on Friday, telling reporters at the White House that he's “literally driving him crazy.”
