The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case in Manhattan has expanded the gag order issued last week.
Judge Juan Merchan issued the order last Tuesday barring Trump from making public comments about witnesses, court staff, and jurors. The order didn’t extend to the judge, his family or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump exploited that loophole to relentlessly attack Merchan’s daughter, the judge, who he says suffers “from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and Bragg.
On Monday, Merchan amended his gag order to include family members of the court and family members of the Manhattan district attorney. The new gag order still does not apply to Bragg or Merchan.
This comes after prosecutors asked Merchan to expand the gag order to stop Trump from attacking family members of people involved in the case.
“This Court should immediately make clear that defendant is prohibited from making or directing others to make public statements about family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order,” prosecutors wrote in a motion to Judge Merchan on Monday.
Attorneys for Trump argued that he has a First Amendment right to defend himself and that he was engaging in “core political speech.”
Merchan rejected that argument.
“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” the judge wrote in the ruling. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for defendant’s vitriol.”
“It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings. The threat is very real,” he added.
Trump’s hush money case, the first of his four criminal trials will begin in April 15th.
