NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s ongoing trial over allegations that he tried to buy silence asked Thursday for more sanctions for comments made outside of court, ahead of testimony by a lawyer for two women who say they had sexual encounters. with the former president.
Attorney Keith Davidson’s testimony is considered vital to prosecutors’ arguments that Trump and his associates schemed to pay companies and individuals to suppress unfavorable news stories before the 2016 election. Davidson is one of several witnesses who will be called to the trial. stand before the prosecution’s main witness, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and confidant.
But before testimony, prosecutors in Manhattan asked that Trump be fined $1,000 for each of four comments they say violated the judge’s orders not to attack witnesses, jurors or others connected to the case. This would be on top of the $9,000 that Judge Juan M. Merchan imposed on Trump for nine other violations he found.
One of Trump’s comments, at a rally of supporters in Waukesha, Wisconsin, was that “there was no crime here. “I have a cheating judge, a totally conflicted judge.”
“The defendant is talking about witnesses and the jury in this case, one right here on the other side of this door,” said prosecutor Christopher Conroy. “This is the most critical moment, the moment when the process must be protected.”
“His statements are corrosive to this process and to the impartial administration of justice,” Conroy added.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, responded that the former president’s candidacy and the enormous attention he receives from the media make it impossible for Trump not to be asked and not comment on the trial.
“He can’t just say ‘no comment’ repeatedly. He is campaigning to be president,” Blanche said.
Merchan did not immediately comment on the request for more penalties, although he did indicate that he is not particularly dismayed about one of the four comments reported by prosecutors.
Still, the mere possibility of greater sanctions highlights the difficulties that Trump, as a candidate, has in adjusting to the rigid restrictions of a court in which he is a criminal defendant. It also remains to be seen whether any rebukes will lead Trump to modify his behavior, given the political advantage he perceives in denouncing the case as a political maneuver.
