Donald Trump’s gag order partly lifted days before presidential debate

Donald Trump is free to talk about witnesses and jurors from last month’s “hush money” trial, after a New York judge declined to extend parts of a gag order imposed on the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, just days before the first presidential debate of the 2024 election.

Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial in which Trump was convicted on 34 criminal counts, said in an order on Tuesday that “circumstances have now changed” and refused a request from prosecutors for some of the restrictions to remain in place until sentencing on July 11.

He kept in place the section of the order that prevents Trump from making statements about prosecutors in the case other than the elected district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and from attacking members of the judge’s family. Trump had previously lambasted Merchan’s daughter, who works for a consultancy that advises Democratic candidates, suggesting that her employment was grounds for the judge to recuse himself from the case.

Merchan also maintained a separate order that prevents Trump from disclosing any identifying details about the jurors, saying there was “ample evidence to justify continued concern”.

The decision from Merchan comes as Trump prepares to square off against US President Joe Biden on Thursday in the first televised debate of the 2024 presidential election.

As he has campaigned, Trump has frequently invoked his legal troubles and lashed out at prosecutors, judges and others involved in the cases.

It also comes just weeks before Trump is set to be sentenced for his conviction for falsifying business records in the “hush money” case. During the trial he was twice found in contempt of court for multiple violations of the gag order on social media and in press interviews. He only appeared to dial back on the attacks once Merchan threatened him with incarceration if he continued to flout the restrictions. 

Lawyers for Trump had repeatedly protested that the gag order violated Trump’s right to speech and was unconstitutional as it hampered him from campaigning effectively.

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Bragg’s office contended that Trump’s “patent disrespect for the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice” meant the restrictions needed to remain in place. Prosecutors added that Trump’s supporters, “following his lead, have attempted to identify jurors and threatened violence against them”.

Trump is already subject to a partial gag order in the federal case over his alleged attempts to thwart the peaceful transfer of power after his election loss in 2020.

His lawyers are also fighting a gag order requested by special counsel Jack Smith in a separate federal case in Miami over classified documents, in which the 78 year old stands accused of illegally retaining secret government files after his departure from the White House.