Judge modifies Trump's gag order, allows him to speak about 'hush money' case

Former President Donald Trump and his lawyers scored a major legal victory this week that will have an impact on what Trump can say publicly about his Manhattan-based "hush money" trial.

Trump was found guilty by the Manhattan jury on 34 felony counts, and was limited in his comments due to a gag order that was placed on him during the trial.

According to the Associated Press, Trump's lawyers managed to finally convince the judge in the case to alter the gag order, allowing Trump to speak his mind like any other free citizen.

The AP noted:

Judge Juan M. Merchan’s decision — just days before Trump’s debate Thursday with President Joe Biden — clears the presumptive Republican nominee to again go on the attack against his lawyer-turned-foe lawyer Michael Cohen, porn actor Stormy Daniels and other trial witnesses.

As anyone would expect, now that the trial is ended, there was no reason that Trump couldn't speak about the jurors and other aspects of the trial.

Merchan wrote in the ruling that the gag order was originally put in place to "protect the integrity of the judicial proceedings."

Judge Merchan in New York has partially lifted Trump's gag order. However, Trump is still not allowed to discuss that Matthew Colangelo, one of the prosecutors, worked for Biden,
or that Merchan's daughter was paid 97 million dollars by the Democrat Party. Damn crook. pic.twitter.com/oOsB0CIwsq

— Kevin Ryan - Mouth Almighty (@kevinryanmedia) June 25, 2024

Merchan admitted that he had a "strong preference" to keep the gag order in place, but decided he had no justification to do so.

The AP noted:

The judge did leave in place a separate order prohibiting Trump and his lawyers from disclosing the identities of individual jurors or their addresses. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said after the verdict the defense team has destroyed that information.

However, Merchan was clearly still concerned about the jurors on the trial.

"There is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors," the judge wrote.

While many celebrated the partial gag order modification, Trump's lawyers argued to have the entire gag order thrown out, citing First Amendment issues, especially given the fact that he's the Republican presidential nominee.

Though his lawyers weren't able to convince the judge of that, the modification was still seen as a significant win for Trump's defense.

Only time will tell if his lawyers are finally able to convince Judge Merchan to completely quash the original gag order.