Judge Juan Merchan partially lifted the gag order imposed on Donald Trump before his criminal trial, in which he was convicted of document fraud, due to a “change” in circumstances, according to a court document published this Tuesday.
The investigating judge of the magnate’s historic trial in New York had prohibited the jurors, witnesses, prosecutors and court staff from speaking in public. He later expanded the ban to include his own family and that of the prosecutor.
Merchan, who plans to announce the sentence to the Republican candidate for the November 5 elections, said that “circumstances have changed. The trial part of this procedure ended when the verdict was issued and the jury said goodbye,” alleges.
The judge’s decision means that Trump, the first former US president convicted of a criminal offense, can now speak publicly about the witnesses who testified at his trial, as well as the jury and the verdict. However, Merchan has maintained measures that prohibit revealing the identity of the jury members.
Trump was fined $10,000 by the judge for violating the gag order on 10 occasions. He even threatened to put him in jail if he violated it again.
Before the gag order, the former president had repeatedly attacked witnesses and the prosecution on his Truth Social platform.
A jury found him guilty on May 30 of 34 counts of falsifying accounting documents to hide the payment of $130,000 to buy the silence of a former porn film actress for an extramarital affair so that she would not interfere in the 2016 elections. , who won against Hillary Clinton.
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THE NATION
