Donald Trump 'broke gag order by passing notes to supporters'
Legal experts claim Donald Trump may have broken his gag order during his hush money trial in New York City
Legal experts believe Donald Trump could have flouted his court-imposed gag order by apparently manufacturing a scenario where his supporters communicated on his behalf. According to Newsweek, Trump has been penning notes for his political sympathizers to read outside the courthouse during his New York criminal trial, a move which could contravene the gag order.
The purpose of the order is to prevent Trump from talking about the jury or any witnesses in the hush money case. "Those notes are not privileged documents, and if their contents mirrored some of what Trump's GOP cronies said to the press, the notes could evidence violations of the Court's order," wrote New York lawyer David R. Lurie on X.
Trump, eyeing up another run for the White House in 2024, is the first ex-US president to be the center of a criminal trial, reports the Express US. Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records with the prosecution claiming he paid Stormy Daniels, an ex-adult movie star, $130,000 to keep silent about a supposed affair before the 2016 election.
Despite the allegations, Trump is pleading not guilty to all charges and denies any extramarital affairs. On May 6, Justice Juan Merchan slapped Trump with a $1,000 fine for contempt of court for the tenth time since the trial kicked off, warning him that any more slip-ups could land him behind bars.
Ron Filipkowski, the chief at MeidasTouch.com, has claimed that Trump is blatantly flouting a gag order by using "surrogates" to communicate his stance. "We have been reporting for days now that Trump is providing daily talking points to surrogates who show up at the trial to violate the gag order for him. The order specifically prohibits him from doing this," he said.
Eric Lisann, an ex-federal prosecutor, also weighed in, stating, "Trump is not denying that he is directing others to speak in ways that are violations of the gag order - which is a violation of the gag order. The judge, Justice Merchan, can order Trump to show cause why he should not be held in contempt. The DA can request that also."
Supporters of Trump are rallying their Republican peers to defy the gag order, which they believe is part of a broader "witch hunt" against the ex-president.
"Hopefully we'll have more and more senators and congressmen go up every day to represent him and be able to go out and overcome this gag order, and that's one of the reasons we went - is to be able to speak our piece for President Trump," Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said to Newsmax on Tuesday.
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