Former US President Donald J. Trump departs after his remarks during a campaign rally at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, June 22, 2024.
Photo: EFE – SHAWN THEW
A New York judge partially lifted this Tuesday the ‘gag order’ imposed on former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) that prohibited him from speaking publicly about prosecutors, witnesses, jurors or members of the court in the criminal trial for which he was convicted. last May.
Trump will now be able to make comments about those involved in this process, but not disclose information that could identify the jurors, according to the court order issued by the court.
However, the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, maintains that Trump is prohibited from speaking publicly about the prosecutors and people on the court – as well as about his family members – until July 11, the day on which the sentence is scheduled to be handed down.
The former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the payment of $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels to conceal a sexual relationship he had with her and thus protect his 2016 presidential campaign.
Merchan imposed the ‘gag order’ before the start of the trial considering that the Republican’s statements affected the process, and forced him to pay $10,000 in fines after failing to comply with the rule a total of ten times.
The decision to lift the gag order comes just two days before Trump’s debate with current US President Joe Biden, which will be broadcast on CNN and in which his trial in New York will come to light.
Trump himself reacted to the partial lifting of the order, through his election campaign team, and stated that he is “finally” free to speak about the “rigged trial” in which he was found guilty.
“And most importantly, I will be able to better defend myself against the unfair attacks of corrupt Joe Biden in Thursday’s debate (…) That debate will be the most important in the history of our country,” added the former president.
