Trump's Gag Order Partially Lifted, Allowing Him to Comment About His Witnesses: "I’m Finally FREE"

Donald Trump can finally speak against the witnesses who testified against him in the Manhattan criminal case. Judge Juan Merchan who presided over the trial has given the nod that Trump is now free to speak as the gag order has been uplifted partially for the former President right before the first presidential debate to be held on June 27. 

The partial freedom however bars the Republican from speaking about the court and prosecution staff until July 11 when the quantum of punishment is adjudged on Trump's hush-money conviction. The decision would encourage the businessman-turned-politician to speak against his former legal representative Michael Cohen and adult star Stormy Daniels, who were the prime witnesses in the hush-money trial.

The trial ended up against Trump who was charged with falsifying records to cover up a possible sex scandal. Merchan also placed a separate order that bans Trump from disclosing the identities of individual jurors. "There is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors," Merchan wrote as reported by ABC News. However, the order omits the judge and District Attorney Alvin Bragg who handled the case and held Trump guilty of all the charges. 

In a fundraising event on June 25, the ex-POTUS declared, "I’m finally FREE to talk about the RIGGED trial that convicted me in New York. JUST IN TIME FOR MY DEBATE WITH CROOKED JOE!" after the judgment came to light as reported by N.Y. Times.

The order was criticized for keeping Trump at bay from uttering anything for the staffers, the prosecution team, and their families until he is sentenced. Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign spokesperson bashed the ruling and asserted that it was "another unlawful decision by a highly conflicted judge, which is blatantly un-American as it gags President Trump, the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election during the upcoming Presidential Debate on Thursday." 

Cheung added, that his legal team "will immediately challenge [today’s] unconstitutional order." According to the N.Y. Times, Cohen reacted to the ruling in a text message briefly hinting at the attack he has continuously faced.

He wrote, "For the past 6 years, Donald and acolytes have been making constant negative statements about me. Donald’s failed strategy of discrediting me so that he can avoid accountability didn’t work then and won’t work now." Meanwhile, Daniel's lawyer Clark Brewster respected the order passed by Merchan. 

"His decision to impose restrictions on Mr. Trump, as it related to reckless and unrelenting character attacks on court personnel, trial witnesses, and potentially jurors was extraordinary but clearly justified given the defendant’s uncontrollable daily rants," Brewster said.

Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts during the trial that took place during the spring. Cohen, a former aide of Trump had accepted that he paid Daniels $130,000 to stay silent on her sexual encounter with the former President during the 2016 presidential run.