Donald Trump was issued a judge’s gag order on Tuesday barring him from publicly commenting about witnesses and court staff ahead of his April 15 criminal trial involving hush money paid to a porn star.
Justice Juan Merchan granted a request by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump, the former president and now the Republican candidate to challenge President Joe Biden for the White House.
“His statements were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating,” Merchan wrote, referring to some of Trump’s previous attacks on witnesses, prosecutors and judges in various legal cases he faces.
“Such inflammatory extrajudicial statements undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of this court,” wrote the judge, who presides in the New York State Supreme Court.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130 000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump denies having an encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung called the gag order unconstitutional.
Source: BBC
In other news – Photos: Shauwn Mkhize (MaMkhize) welcomes her Makoti in style
Popular Mzansi reality TV star, and businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize, famously known as MaMkhize, welcomed her Makoti with Zulu dances on 23 March.
Undoubtedly, the Zulu culture is one of the most famous and celebrated cultures in South Africa. Read more
