Prosecutors in the New York City criminal case against former President Donald Trump are staying aggressive in pursuing allegations of the ex-White House occupant violating a gag order imposed amid the case.
The case involves allegations of falsifying business records in connection to hush money from before the 2016 elections for a woman named Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had an affair with Trump. The order, imposed by presiding Judge Juan Merchan — known as a Justice in the state’s legal parlance, blocks a range of potential attacks from the ex-president on witnesses, jurors, and others. And Trump has been commenting and/or posting about some of those protected, whether it’s a courthouse rant about Michael Cohen or posts to social media about the assembling of the jury.
Legal journalist Adam Klasfeld reported on Thursday that prosecutors had filed yet another motion against Trump, adding multiple newly alleged violations of the gag order to the push. There was a hearing on prosecutors’ allegations earlier this week, during which a Trump lawyer tried to convince the judge that the ex-president/his team really were working to comply with the directives, a notion that the judge derided.
Specifically, the latest motion from prosecutors added four additional allegations of a violation to the local team’s push. They’re not presently seeking Trump’s detention, although that is a possibility for findings of contempt — one that they said they want reiterated to the former president-turned-criminal defendant. A member of the prosecution also suggested that Trump himself was “angling” for that penalty.
After a couple of days, it still appeared that the judge had not ruled on prosecutors’ push to hold Trump in contempt for this public commentary.
Trial proceedings resumed on Thursday with further testimony by media figure David Pecker, who was outlining alleged collaboration towards bolstering Trump’s image heading into the 2016 election. Pecker told prosecutors from the stand that his understanding was that concerns from Trump around negative stories hinged on campaign impacts, not family.
