The Manhattan judge who presided over Donald Trump’s arraignment Tuesday warned the former president to not make statements that could incite violence – but stopped short of issuing a gag order in the case. 

Trump, 76, and the witnesses that prosecutors intend to call should both, “refrain from making statements likely to incite violence or create civil unrest,” Judge Juan Merchan said during the hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy raised Trump’s recent use of incendiary language on his Truth Social media platform, highlighting a number of the posts during the proceeding and handing the judge several examples printed on paper.

The posts included an image Trump shared of himself “wielding a baseball bat at the head of the district attorney,” and another in which he threatened his then-looming indictment could trigger “death and destruction.” 

Because of the posts, Conroy said, prosecutors are working with Trump’s attorneys to draw up a protective order that would bar the ex-prez from posting sensitive information turned over to his legal team as part of the discovery process in the case.

The order currently being hashed out would bar Trump from providing the discovery material to any third party and from posting it on social media.

Trump would also be required to review any shared sensitive material in the presence of his attorneys, and would not be allowed to take physical copies of such documents with him. 

Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, replied by claiming the grand jury process was riddled with leaks. He argued the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen, had addressed reporters about his testimony from the steps of the building where the grand jury met. 

Blanche also raised that a former Manhattan prosecutor involved in a grand jury investigation of Trump left the office and wrote a book that detailed the process, referring to Mark Pomerantz, who abruptly quit in February 2022.

Sharing sensitive information in the case was “consistent with what their witnesses have been doing,” Blanche said about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.

Merchan requested the parties consult with each other and send him an agreed upon order that details how Trump can interact with sensitive material in the case. 

Trump entered a not-guilty plea to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at the hearing, which lasted about 40 minutes.

The charges relate to “hush money” payments made in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election to stifle claims that could harm Trump’s candidacy, according to court documents.

One of them was the $130,000 payment Cohen, Trump’s then-fixer, made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump illegally reimbursed Cohen for the payment and claimed it as a business expense in an effort to silence Daniels and undermine the election, prosecutors allege.

Cohen pleaded guilty in August 2018 to eight federal counts, including campaign violations related to the payment.