The prosecutor requests a fine for Trump for violating the muzzle – Dagsavisen

The former president is not allowed to speak publicly about people involved in the case, such as potential witnesses and the jury. But according to prosecutors, Trump has posted ten posts online that they believe are in violation of the order.

It concerns critical statements about Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, and Stormy Daniels, the porn actress Trump allegedly had an affair with.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy is asking that Trump be fined at least $1,000 for each post.

– He knows about the order, he knows what he is not allowed to do, and he does it anyway, Conroy said in court on Tuesday.

Jab at Trump’s defender

Among other things, Trump has referred to Cohen and Daniels as “two despicable people who, through lies and misrepresentations, have cost our country dearly”.

Trump and his lawyers have previously referred to the muzzle as a violation of the former president’s freedom of speech.

In court, defense attorney Todd Blanche said the posts were in response to political accusations. Several of the statements that the ex-president has posted were anyway written by someone other than Trump himself, according to Blanche.

This argument did not impress Judge Juan Merchan.

– Is it the case that if your client had been walking around with a poster, then he is not doing anything wrong if he himself had not written what is written there? Merchan asked rhetorically.

– You lose all credibility with the court, said the judge to Trump’s defender.

Historic trial

After an hour and a half of dealing with the muzzle issue, the judge called a halt, and he said that the decision on this issue will be announced later.

Donald Trump is the first former president in US history to be indicted in a criminal case. The indictment concerns a breach of the Accounting Act in connection with a payment of 130,000 dollars, just over NOK 1.4 million, to Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels.

The so-called hush money was paid via Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen just before the presidential election in 2016, allegedly so that Clifford would keep a close eye on the fact that she and Trump had had sex in a hotel ten years earlier.