Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office is seeking a gag order barring Donald Trump from attacking witnesses and court staff members ahead of the former president's hush money trial next month. The proposed order would also forbid Trump to make remarks about prosecutors, apart from Bragg, the Hill reports. "Defendant has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and court staff," the request filed with Judge Juan Manuel Merchan on Monday states.
Bragg also wants Merchan to protect jurors, the New York Times reports. His office has asked the judge to prohibit Trump from revealing their identities and from being provided with their addresses. Jury selection in the case, the first of Trump's criminal cases to go to trial, will begin on March 25. Bragg's office called the gag order request "narrowly tailored," reports the AP. "Self-regulation is not a viable alternative, as defendant's recent history makes plain," prosecutors wrote, adding that Trump "has a longstanding and perhaps singular history" of attacking "individuals that he considers to be adversaries" in social media posts and campaign speeches.
Trump's remarks, "as well as the inevitable reactions they incite from defendant's followers and allies, pose a significant and imminent threat to the orderly administration of this criminal proceeding and a substantial likelihood of causing material prejudice," prosecutors wrote. If Merchan grants the order, Trump's lawyers are expected to appeal, as they did with the gag order in his federal election interference trial. The order was upheld by an appeals court. (More Donald Trump stories.)
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