Appeals court upholds Donald Trump’s gag order in hush money case

Two months after his felony conviction, Donald Trump still is not allowed to say everything he wants about his historic hush money criminal case.

After a New York appeals court upheld his gag order on Thursday, he will not be for a while.

The state’s mid-level appellate court denied the Republican former president and current nominee’s latest bid to lift the restrictions, swatting away a last-minute argument that he is unfairly muzzled while Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely Democratic opponent, pits herself as an ex-prosecutor taking on a “convicted felon”.

At the same time, Mr Trump’s lawyers are again asking trial Judge Juan M Merchan to exit the case, saying his daughter’s work for Ms Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign underscores questions about his ability to be impartial.

Mr Merchan rejected two prior recusal requests, last year and at the start of the trial in April, saying the defence’s concerns were “hypothetical” and based on “innuendos” and “unsupported speculation”.

In a letter to Mr Merchan made public on Thursday, Mr Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said Ms Harris’ entry into the presidential race makes those issues “even more concrete” and said the judge has not addressed them “at a level of detail sufficient to repair the lack of public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings”.

Separately, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to Loren Merchan demanding she turn over any documents pertaining to Ms Harris’ campaign, President Joe Biden’s abandoned re-election campaign, and any discussions she or her firm may have had about Mr Trump’s hush money prosecution. Mr Jordan’s request on Thursday includes any conversations she may have had with her father about the case.

A message seeking comment was left with Loren Merchan.

In its gag order ruling Thursday, a five-judge panel found that Judge Merchan was correct in keeping some restrictions in place until Mr Trump is sentenced because the case is still pending and his conviction does not constitute a change in circumstances that warrants lifting it.

“The fair administration of justice necessarily includes sentencing,” they wrote.

The gag order bars Mr Trump from speaking out about the prosecution team, court staffers or their families, including Mr Merchan’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant.

In June, Mr Merchan lifted a ban on Mr Trump commenting about witnesses and jurors, and he has always been free to speak about the judge and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat whose office prosecuted the case.

Mr Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, but the case and gag order could end before that if Mr Merchan grants a defence request to throw out his conviction in light of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. Mr Merchan said he plans to rule on September 6.

Mr Blanche and a Manhattan DA’s office spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday’s ruling.

The appeals court ruled a day after Mr Blanche tried filing papers asking it to immediately lift the gag order.

With a decision imminent, the court rejected the filing, which called the restrictions an “unconstitutional, election-interfering” restraint on Mr Trump’s free speech while he seeks to retake the White House.

In a copy of the prospective filing provided to The Associated Press, Mr Blanche wrote that Ms Harris’ entering the race had given the matter new urgency and that is “unconscionable that Harris can speak freely about this case, but President Trump cannot”.

The defence also revived complaints that prosecutor Matthew Colangelo was biased because he was a Justice Department official under Mr Biden. Mr Trump is unable to air those grievances himself because of the gag order.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have made several efforts to lift the gag order.

Their latest fight landed in the state’s intermediate appeals court — the Appellate Division, one rung up from Mr Merchan’s trial court level — after they struck out with the state’s top court.

The Court of Appeals last month declined to hear Mr Trump’s gag order challenge, finding it did not raise “substantial” constitutional issues that would warrant immediate intervention.

Mr Merchan imposed the gag order in March, restricting Mr Trump from commenting about witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case, after prosecutors raised concerns about his habit of attacking people involved in his legal matters.

The judge soon expanded it to prohibit comments about his own family after Mr Trump lashed out on social media at the judge’s daughter and made false claims about her.