In this courtroom sketch former President Donald Trump enters the courtroom with his attorney Todd Blanche at the beginning of his trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York, Monday, April 15, 2024. (Jane Rosenberg/Pool Photo via AP)
On the first day of jury selection for Donald Trump’s inaugural criminal trial in New York City, the prosecution quickly moved to have the former president sanctioned for allegedly violating a gag order.
But first, they had to ask for permission.
New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan is captaining a tight ship at 100 Centre Street in the sprawling legal complex that abuts downtown Manhattan’s famous Chinatown.
The state, as well as the ex-president’s attorneys, must seek leave from Merchan to file motions in the case due to an earlier court ruling intended to tamp down on the number of docket entries. In an order last month, Merchan expressed disdain for defense efforts to increasingly delay the proceedings. The court has instructed both the defense and the state to file a one-page letter explaining why they needed to file any given motion before filing any additional motions.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass went into the state’s evidence over the alleged gag order violation, even as both sides argued over the court’s motion filing requirement, according to a report by New York Daily News reporter Molly Crane Newman.
The state alleges Trump violated the gag order by making comments about witnesses by way of three or four posts on Truth Social.
Those posts was previously the subject of a motion by the state that successfully asked for the court to enlarge the initial gag order.
“Defendant proved himself totally incapable of self-regulating, going so far as to refer to one potential trial witness last week as ‘death,”” the district attorney’s April 1 motion reads — linking to one such offending media post referring to his former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen and former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.
The two other posts the state says definitely violated the gag order were reposts — one from attorney Michael Avenatti attacking Stormy Daniels; the other an image of one of Daniels’ own public statements, according to a report by Lawfare editor Tyler McBrien.
For each of the three alleged violations, the state asked the court to fine Trump $1,000 apiece, force the defendant to remove each post, and warn Trump that jail could result if continued contempt occurs.
As for the fourth potential post, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy mused about the time and location it was sent.
“It’s entirely possible it was done within this courthouse,” the prosecutor reportedly told the court.
That post was yet another repost of someone else’s commentary — this time Trump shared a link to a New York Post op-ed by George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley that aims to cast some doubt on the reliability of Cohen’s likely testimony.
Throughout Monday morning and afternoon, Trump posted and reposted several dozen times on Truth Social.
Trump’s lead defense attorney, Todd Blanche, reportedly countered by arguing his client was not trying to target the witnesses but, rather, responding to “salacious repeated attacks by these witnesses.”
Merchan, for his part, without directly addressing the contempt of court request, said the posts regarding Cohen were likely to become evidence in the case regardless — assuming the defense tries to impeach the would-be witness’ credibility or otherwise discredit him.
As the state and defense went back and forth about the issue, however, the judge reminded the two sides that beginning jury selection — involving some 500 potential jurors — was the real business for the day and that there would not be a full-blown evidentiary discussion on the alleged gag order violation.
After a break, the court decided to dispense with the state’s contempt of court request during a hearing to be held on April 23 at 9:30 a.m.
In New York, Trump faces a 34-count felony indictment over allegedly falsified business records related to payments made to Daniels, an adult film actress, in 2016. Those charges against Trump marked the first time in U.S. history that a former president faced a criminal indictment. Now, Trump is battling back against four criminal indictments in three states and the District of Columbia.
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