Trump Lawyers: Threats Against Judge ‘Irrelevant’ to Gag Order

Donald Trump’s lawyers on Friday argued that a gag order against the former president in his civil fraud trial should not be reinstated.

A New York court public safety officer said in a previous filing that the paused gag order on Trump should be reinstated because the presiding judge, Arthur Engoron of the state Supreme Court, and the judge’s principal law clerk, Allison Greenfield, have faced “credible” threats to their safety.

Trump’s lawyers say any threats by “third parties” are “irrelevant” to the gag order.

“To date, the prosecution has never submitted any evidence of alleged ‘threats’ or ‘harassment’ to any prosecutor, court staffer, or potential witness in this case. This falls short of the ‘solidity of evidence’ required to justify a prior restraint,” Trump’s attorneys said in a letter to the clerk at U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“Moreover, the cited affirmation, albeit irrelevant, concedes that ‘Mr. Trump did not directly threaten Ms. Greenfield,’ id. ¶ 5, and instead describes speech by unidentified, independent third parties. Id. ¶ 9. This confirms that the prosecution seeks to impose ‘a speech burden based on audience reactions,’ which ‘is simply government hostility and intervention in a different guise.'”

A New York appeals court judge last week paused a gag order that barred Trump from commenting on court staffers in the civil fraud trial. Engoron had imposed the gag order last month and later fined Trump $15,000 for violations after the former president made a disparaging social media post about a court clerk.

Cecil W. VanDevender, assistant special counsel, wrote to D.C. Circuit Clerk Mark Langer on Thursday with information provided by Charles Hollon, who works in New York’s Public Safety Department’s Judicial Threats Assessment Unit.

Trumps lawyers called the indictment and the gag order “election interference.”

Trump also faces the possible reinstatement of a gag order in his criminal trial concerning allegations he schemed to overturn the 2020 election results.

The U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit heard from both sides Monday, but did not issue a ruling.

The outcome will set parameters on what Trump, as both a criminal defendant and the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, can and cannot say as the trial date nears.

“The Special Counsel has brought an inflammatory, lawless indictment; has made false and misleading statements about President Trump; and has leaked confidential information in order to harm President Trump,” the lawyers said Friday.

“Both the indictment and the Gag Order represent an unconstitutional attempt to silence President Trump; they are clearly election interference.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.