Christopher Conroy, the prosecution lawyer, claimed Mr Trump had breached the ruling on 10 occasions, including in a Truth Social post on Apr 10 which called former porn star Stormy Daniels and lawyer Michael Cohen “sleazebags”. Both Ms Daniels and Mr Cohen are key witnesses in the case.
“The defendant has violated this order repeatedly and hasn’t stopped,” Mr Conroy added.
Todd Blanche, Mr Trump’s lawyer, claimed that the former president was responding to a “barrage of political attacks” and was “being very careful to comply” with the gag order. “Mr Blanche, you’re losing all credibility, I have to tell you right now … You’re losing all credibility with the court.”
Despite terse exchanges, Mr Trump twice railed against the judge on Truth Social during a short break and after court finished for the day.
“Highly conflicted, to put it mildly, Judge Juan Merchan, has taken away my constitutional right to free speech,” Mr Trump wrote on his platform. “This is a kangaroo court, and the judge should recuse himself!” he added.
Wearing a freshly pressed navy blue suit and red tie, Mr Trump, 77, later told reporters outside part 59, the courtroom where the case is being held, the gag order is “totally unconstitutional”.
The second day of Mr Trump’s first criminal trial – the first of any former US president – also saw former tabloid executive David Pecker continue to give evidence.
The former president has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Mr Trump is accused of conspiring with Mr Pecker and Mr Cohen to “corrupt” the 2016 presidential election by orchestrating a “catch and kill” scheme to bury stories that could have wounded Mr Trump’s campaign.
Mr Pecker, 72, told the Manhattan Criminal Court he made a “highly confidential agreement” with the two men to act as the “eyes and ears” for Mr Trump and his campaign during an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower.
Mr Pecker said he then told Dylan Howard, the Enquirer’s editor-in-chief, to identify any potential stories about the candidate that he could flag to Mr Cohen.
“I told him that we were going to try to help the campaign and to do that we are going to try and keep this as quiet as possible,” Mr Pecker told the court.
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