(NEW YORK) — As former President Donald Trump awaits a ruling on whether he will be held in contempt for violating his gag order, prosecutors on Thursday accused him of making four more violations.
The limited gag order, which was issued by Judge Juan Merchan ahead of Trump’s hush money trial, prohibits him from making public comments about jurors, lawyers, potential witnesses, court staff and their families. It allows Trump to continue making remarks about Merchan and District Attorney Alvin Bragg, but forbids him from speaking about their family members.
“We think that it is important for the court to remind Mr. Trump that he is a criminal defendant, and like all criminal defendants, he is subject to court supervision and, in particular, this court’s obligation to preserve the integrity of the Criminal Justice System,” prosecutor Chris Conroy said last week.
Though the alleged violations were initially limited to Trump’s statements on social media and his campaign website, the newest ones announced Thursday center on comments he’s made in interviews or live remarks — some in the hallway just outside the courtroom.
Here are the 14 gag order violations Trump stands accused of making.
‘Thank you to Michael Avenatti’
In an Apr. 10 post on TruthSocial, Trump thanked convicted attorney Michael Avenatti for speaking out against Trump’s gag order in a social media post that slammed adult film actress Stormy Daniels and his former attorney Michael Cohen, both potential witnesses. In Dec. 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison for defrauding Daniels.
“We can’t be hypocrites when it comes to the 1st Amendment,” Avenatti wrote. “It is outrageous that Cohen and Daniels can do countless TV interviews, post on social, & make $$ on bogus documentaries – all by talking shit about Trump – but he’s gagged and threatened with jail if he responds.”
“Thank you to Michael Avenatti,” Trump posted in response, “for revealing the truth about two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!”
Daniels’ recanted statement
In another TruthSocial post on Apr. 10, Trump shared an image of a 2018 statement signed by Daniels, in which she denied ever having an affair with Trump.
“LOOK WHAT WAS JUST FOUND! WILL THE FAKE NEWS REPORT IT?” Trump wrote.
Despite saying the statement had been “just found,” the statement was actually released in Jan. 2018, and received widespread news coverage at the time. Daniels later recanted her statement, saying she had signed it under duress due to a nondisclosure agreement.
Attacking ‘disgraced attorney and felon’ Cohen
Trump blasted his former lawyer in an Apr. 13 TruthSocial post, which also attacked Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor who previously led the investigation into Trump.
“Has Mark POMERANTZ been prosecuted for his terrible acts in and out of the D.A.’s Office. Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING?” Trump wrote. “Only TRUMP people get prosecuted by this Judge and these thugs! A dark day for our Country. MAGA2024!!!”
Calling Cohen ‘a serial perjurer’
On Apr. 15 and 16, Trump and his campaign website shared a New York Post opinion piece five times that described Cohen as a “serial perjurer.”
“A serial perjurer will try to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump in an embarrassment for the New York legal system,” the headline states.
Trump posted the article twice to his campaign website, and three times to TruthSocial. Prosecutors say each of the five posts constitute five separate gag order violations.
‘Cohen’s guilty plea does not prove Trump committed campaign finance crimes’
Trump shared an article from conservative magazine National Review on Apr. 16, which argued that Cohen’s guilty plea shouldn’t be taken as a sign Trump will be convicted.
“No, Cohen’s Guilty Plea Does Not Prove Trump Committed Campaign-Finance Crimes,” the headline states.
‘Undercover liberal activists’
With jury selection well under way on Apr. 17, Trump made a TruthSocial post quoting Fox News commentator Jesse Watters, which smeared prospective jurors as “undercover liberal activists.”
“They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,” Trump wrote in the post, quoting Watters’ words.
In the contempt hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors called this particular post “very troubling,” arguing it may have contributed to one selected juror deciding she didn’t feel comfortable serving on the case given the intense publicity.
“What happened here is precisely what this order was designed to prevent,” Conroy said, “and this defendant doesn’t care.”
Courthouse remarks on Cohen
Just after leaving the courtroom on Monday, Trump made public remarks that attempted to paint Cohen as an unreliable witness.
“And when are they going to look at all the lies and the last trial – he got caught lying in the last trial,” Trump said.
Trump also said Cohen “wasn’t very good in a lot of ways” as an attorney.
Interview disparaging jury
On Thursday, prosecutors said Trump had given an interview on Monday in which he claimed the jurors were “95 percent Democrats.”
They appeared to be referring to an interview he gave to radio show Outside the Beltway.
“That jury was picked so fast — 95 percent Democrats,” Trump said in the interview. “The area is mostly all Democrats. You think of it as just a purely Democrat area.”
“It’s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you,” he added.
‘A convicted liar’
Prosecutors also pointed to an interview with Philadelphia ABC station WPVI that Trump gave Tuesday morning, in which he slammed Cohen as a “convicted liar.”
“Michael Cohen is a convicted liar, and he’s got no credibility whatsoever. He was a lawyer and you rely on your lawyers. But Michael Cohen was a convicted liar. He was a lawyer for many people, not just me. Then he got in trouble because of things outside of what he did for me,” Trump said.
David Pecker is a ‘nice guy’
In public remarks at a construction site early Thursday, Trump turned his comments towards David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher who would continue testifying later that morning.
“David’s been very nice, a nice guy,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter what he thought about Pecker’s testimony so far.
Prosecutors said this comment also constituted a gag order violation.
“This is a message to Pecker — be nice. It is a message to others. I have a platform and I will talk about you,” Conroy said. “It is a message to everyone involved in this proceeding and this court.”
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