A New York state court upheld the gag order restricting former President Donald Trump from speaking publicly about potential witnesses, jurors or court staff in his criminal hush money case on Tuesday, amid Trump’s repeated criticism of the order, which he has slammed as a violation of his First Amendment rights.
Former President Donald Trump's appeal of his gag order in New York was rejected on Tuesday.
Trump’s appeal of the gag order was denied by New York’s First Department of the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, which ruled presiding Judge Juan Merchan “properly weighed” Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech “against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases.”
Under the gag order, Trump is prohibited from commenting publicly on potential witnesses, jurors, court employees or their families in his trial, after a spree of social media posts and public comments critical of witnesses, the jury and Merchan’s daughter.
Trump has also been fined $10,000 for violating his gag order, and faces the potential of jail time for additional violations—a possibility Merchan has threatened that legal experts told Forbes could result in Trump being sent to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.