The New York judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” prosecution partially lifted a gag order that limited what he could say about those involved in the case, saying Trump can now speak about witnesses and the jury, as long as he doesn’t reveal jurors’ identities.
The decision by Justice Juan Merchan leaves in place restrictions limiting Trump’s ability to comment on prosecutors, court staff and others. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office did not object to lifting the limits on comments about witnesses, but urged Merchan to keep the other portions of the order in place, including restrictions on commenting on the jury at least through sentencing on July 11.
Merchan wrote that he would prefer to protect jurors from further public comment by Trump, but can no longer bar him from talking about them generally. However, he left in place a provision preventing disclosure of personal information about them, including their identities.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in May following a six-week trial.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.