Donald Trump’s lawyers fired back at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s request to bar the former president from discussing evidence in his criminal case on social media as well as viewing it outside of the presence of his legal team.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s lawyers fired back at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s request to bar the former president from discussing evidence in his criminal case on social media as well as viewing it outside of the presence of his legal team.
Bragg last week asked a judge to restrict Trump’s ability to publicly discuss evidence that prosecutors collected against him in the criminal case.
Trump’s defense team on Monday called the request “extreme” and said any restrictions placed upon the ex-president should also apply to prosecutors. Lawyers for Trump also said barring him from discussing evidence would violate his free-speech rights under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
“President Trump is the leading Republican candidate for president of the United States,” Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing. “To state the obvious, there will continue to be significant public commentary about this case and his candidacy, to which he has a right and a need to respond, both for his own sake and for the benefit of the voting public.”
Hush Money
Bragg indicted Trump in March on 34 counts of falsifying business records for directing that hush-money payments be made to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actor, and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. Both women were paid to keep them from coming forward during his 2016 presidential campaign about sexual encounters they had with him. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the encounters.
Read More: Manhattan DA Seeks to Stop Trump From Discussing Evidence
Prosecutors argued a protective order was merited because Trump has a history of attacking individuals involved in legal matters against him.
Lawyers for Trump argued Monday that it was Daniels and Michael Cohen, formerly a lawyer and fixer for Trump, who made disparaging comments about him.
“These two witnesses have engaged in inflammatory conduct toward President Trump, both during the investigation and since the indictment, in attacking President Trump and discussing at length their version of the facts of this case,” they said.
Free Speech
Trump’s legal team also argued that Bragg and Mark Pomerantz, a former top prosecutor who led the investigation, have commented publicly on the evidence in the case, including statements Bragg made at an April 4 press conference after the former president was arraigned. The defense said that would have violated the restrictions Bragg has sought for Trump, had they been in place for prosecutors.
Bragg and prosecutors “apparently believe that New York law allows the district attorney’s office and its witnesses to freely speak and quote from grand jury evidence, but not President Trump or his counsel,” according to the filing.
Trump said he doesn’t object to an order that allows him to comment on the evidence.
A spokeswoman for Bragg declined to comment on Trump’s arguments.
Trump’s request was reported earlier by the New York Times.
(Updates with Bragg’s office declining to comment at bottom.)
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