Former Attorney General Bill Barr described the gag order as ‘crazy’ and labeled the criminal trial as ‘an actual abomination.’ He criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision to charge former President Donald Trump, calling it politically motivated and invalid. Barr expressed his surprise at the charges and questioned the legal basis for elevating misdemeanors to felonies. He also highlighted concerns about the gag order preventing Trump from defending himself and potentially interfering with the election process. Despite disagreements with Trump, Barr indicated that he would vote for him in the election, citing concerns about progressive movements. The judge overseeing the trial imposed the gag order, which Trump allegedly violated on social media. After the trial ended, Trump’s attorney claimed that the gag order no longer applied.
“I feel like the trial is over and it shouldn’t,” he said, adding that keeping the gag order in place is “a little bit of the theater of the absurd at this point.”
Then, on June 3, Trump attorneys argued in letter sent to Judge Merchan that the gag order amounts to a continued violation of the former president’s First Amendment rights.
“Now that the trial is concluded, the concerns articulated by the government and the Court do not justify continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump—who remains the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election—and the American people,” the lawyers wrote.
They argued that President Trump should be allowed to defend himself publicly by speaking out about the trial, especially given that President Biden’s campaign has been using the guilty verdict by referring to the former president repeatedly as a “convicted felon.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office urged a New York state judge on June 4 to keep former President Donald Trump’s gag order in place even after his criminal trial concluded with a guilty verdict on May 30.
President Trump’s attorneys opposed that request.
In a letter on June 4, prosecutors from Mr. Bragg’s office argued that the gag order is necessary not only for the duration of the trial but beyond.
They argued it was needed in order “to protect against defendant’s efforts” to threaten “the integrity of the judicial proceedings,” “interfere with the fair administration of justice,” and “intimidate this Court.”
The gag order issued by Judge Merchan is the broadest of three gag orders imposed on President Trump in his multiple legal battles, which he claims are all meant to derail his bid for a presidential comeback.
