The judge in former President Trump’s New York criminal case revised a gag order, allowing Trump to publicly discuss witnesses and jurors from the hush money trial that resulted in his historic felony conviction, Courthouse News reports. While Justice Juan Merchan loosened previous restrictions on Trump’s statements about the trial’s witnesses and jurors, he kept in place prohibitions against Trump making statements about prosecutors with the Manhattan DA's office, along with New York court staff and their families, until Trump’s sentencing on July 11. Although the judge lifted a prohibition on Trump’s out-of-court statements about jurors, a pretrial order withholding the names and addresses of jurors from the public will remain in place. “Nonetheless, there is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors,” Merchan wrote, referring to his March decree that the jurors’ names be kept secret to preserve their safety.
Last week, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office urged Merchan to keep the gag order in place as to statements about the jurors. Although the jury remained anonymous throughout the trial, nonidentifying information about the makeup of individual jurors was made public during the public jury selection process, which disclosed the rare occurrence of two lawyers sitting on the panel. Prosecutors highlighted online posts threatening members of the district attorney's office with “We will kill you all” and “Your life is done.” There were also bomb threats at the homes of two people involved in the case; a threatening post disclosing a district attorney employee's address; and a post with sniper sights on people close to the case or their family members. Trump is set to debate President Biden on Thursday, where for the first time in U.S. history, a presidential candidate will face questions about his status as a felon and his slew of other legal troubles.
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