Trump Breaks Judge’s Gag Order By Citing Fox’s Jesse Watters and His ‘Liberal Activists’ Juror Conspiracy
Andrea Renault/AP Photos
Donald Trump appeared to violate the gag order set forth by Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the former president’s trial in New York over hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
On Wednesday, Trump took to Truth Social and quoted comments made about potential jurors by Fox News host Jesse Watters on The Five Wednesday night.
“They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,” Trump wrote, quoting the Fox host.
That post appears to be in direct violation of Merchan’s gag order, a reality highlighted by JustSecurity’s Ryan Goodman, who shared screen grabs of both the Truth Social post and a section from the gag order, writing:
On the left:
NY judge’s gag order prohibiting Trump from “making … public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.”
On the right:
Trump making public statement about prospective jurors in this criminal proceedings.
The gag order section reads, in part, “Making or directing others to make public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.” The screencap shared by Goodman:
CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin was asked by Anderson Cooper Wednesday night if this sort of social media post was permissible under the gag order. Toobin argued that it was an apparent attempt to intimidate jurors, which is “clearly barred.” Toobin said:
I don’t think so. I think it’s false, but more importantly, it’s clearly – I think – an attempt to intimidate jurors and it is clearly barred by the gag order in this case. I mean, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to realize he is now a criminal defendant, and criminal defendants have different and lesser rights than ordinary citizens. They are not allowed to interfere in the trial process – especially when there is a gag order that specifically addresses attempts to intimidate jurors. I mean, it is just not permissible.
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