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Manhattan prosecutors have accused Donald Trump of violating a silence order just steps from the courtroom in which he is being tried, asking a judge to impose fines and warn the former US president that he would be imprisoned if he continued to attack witnesses and jurors. .
Trump has “violated this order repeatedly and he has not stopped,” Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy told the court Tuesday. “He did it right here in the hallway,” Conroy added, referring to a TV clip in which Trump once again called his former lawyer Michael Cohen a liar. Cohen is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness.
The hearing took place before the second day of testimony in what is expected to be a six-week trial in Manhattan. The former president – and presumptive Republican presidential candidate – faces charges of falsifying business records to conceal payments made to buy the silence of porn actor Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 election, after she threatened to go public with an alleged extramarital affair.
Although Trump was subdued in front of the judge, he frequently attacked various figures involved in the case on social media and on his campaign website. This led Judge Juan Merchan to impose a silence on the former president, which was later reinforced after Trump portrayed the judge and his family as Democratic operatives.
Prosecutors cited 10 instances Tuesday in which Trump has since allegedly violated the order on social media and elsewhere.
A post on his social network Truth Social – in which Trump last week quoted Fox host Jesse Watters as saying the Manhattan jury hearing the case could contain “undercover liberal activists” – has been removed of “a segment specifically discussing the profiles of the jurors in this case.” “added Conroy. “[Trump] knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway.
Manhattan prosecutors asked Merchan to impose a fine of $1,000 per offense, the maximum allowed under New York law, and to warn Trump that he could be sent to prison for 30 days if he continued to flout the order of silence.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s lawyer, argued that his client was only responding to a “barrage of political attacks” from Cohen and Daniels, who flooded the airwaves with criticism and mockery of the former president .
Merchan appeared increasingly frustrated by the defense’s protests and warned Blanche that he was “losing all credibility with the court.” The judge said he would consider both sides’ arguments before ruling.
Trump spoke to Truth Social immediately after the hearing, writing that “HIGHLY CONFLICTED JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN TOOK AWAY FROM ME MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPLANATION.”
“EVERYONE IS ALLOWED TO SPEAK AND LIE ABOUT ME, BUT I’M NOT ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF,” he added.
In opening arguments Monday, Manhattan prosecutors said the alleged winnings were an attempt to tip the 2016 election in Trump’s favor, while the 77-year-old’s defense team said he had acted completely legally in attempting to suppress a false and embarrassing. charge.
The court heard briefly Monday from the prosecution’s first witness, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who was allegedly involved in the “catch and kill” scheme by purchasing exclusive rights to anti-Trump articles — then by preventing their publication. Pecker will continue to testify later Tuesday.