Keeping Trump under gag order likely violates his rights and the rights of Americans, experts say

With the trial over, former President Donald Trump no longer has to sit in the courtroom every day, but even as the first presidential debate approaches, he still can't talk freely about what happened there.

New York's highest court declined Tuesday to accept Trump's appeal and Bragg's office he insists the gag order is needed through the sentence. Maintaining a gag order after conviction is extremely rare, legal experts told the DCNF, noting that there is a strong case that doing so violates Trump's civil rights, especially when there was never much justification for issue one

“This really goes to the heart of not only Donald Trump's First Amendment rights, but the rights of the American people to hear the candidates running for president,” former federal prosecutor Jonathan Fahey told the DCNF, noting that Biden is doing Trump's 34. crimes as a “core feature” of his re-election.

“Biden will talk about it, and Trump has to walk on eggshells to make sure he doesn't offend the judge,” he continued.

With the verdict not until July 11, it seems that the order will be maintained during the first presidential term debate on June 27.

Bragg's office argued for maintaining the order through the ruling after Trump's lawyers he asked Judge Juan Merchan lifted the order following the conviction of the former president.

Trump's lawyers argued that the “concerns articulated by the government and the Court do not justify restrictions on President Trump's First Amendment rights.”

“It is completely unusual for a court to uphold a gag order imposed after conviction,” former federal prosecutor Katie Cherkasky told the DCNF. He said it is “possible that New York courts could even extend the post-conviction gag order as a condition of post-sentence probation, although it is not likely.”

Fahey told the DCNF that he hardly remembers hearing about gag orders during his 19 years as a prosecutor.

Now that the New York Court of Appeals rejected his challenge, Trump's options include appealing to the Supreme Court or filing a federal lawsuit challenging the gag order.

“The federal lawsuit could allege that the gag order (to say nothing of the indictment itself) is facially illegal and a mere pretext, part of a conspiracy between, say, the administration Biden, Bragg and Merchan, among others, to silence Mr. Trump and harm his presidential campaign through deception and abuse of the State's criminal legal process,” said America's Senior Vice President Legal First, Reed D. Rubinstein, at the DCNF. “This conduct may violate Mr. Trump's civil rights and, according to Jack Smith's indictment of the former president in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, appears to be improper and illegal election interference “.

Republican FEC Commissioner Trey Trainor criticized the DOJ's lack of intervention in the case as he set a “dangerous precedent” in his testimony last week before Congress, given that Bragg was trying to enforce federal campaign finance law.

Matthew Colangelo, who previously spent two years in Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) Manhattan district attorney's office as senior counsel, joined Bragg's office in December 2022 and worked on the case against Trump Trump can't talk about Colangelo under gag orderwhich restricts his statements about witnesses, prosecutors other than the district attorney, court staff and jurors, as well as with family members of the staff, district attorney or judge.

“The facts indicate that Biden, Bragg, et al., by design and effect, have conspired to use a state criminal court to interfere with the right of Americans to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Rubinstein continued. “The fact that the gag order could affect Mr. Trump's ability to speak during the first debate highlights its absurdity.”

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