June 18 (UPI) — A New York court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal to get rid of the gag order in former President Donald Trump‘s hush-money conviction case.
The New York Court of Appeals said it was dismissing Trump’s appeal “upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved,” meaning the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s criminal conviction case, remains in effect.
The order bars Trump from speaking publicly about jurors, witnesses court staff or the judge’s family but does not stop the former president from going after Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who argues the gag order is crucial to protect the integrity of the case itself.
“In other words,” explained Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney for Alabama’s Northern District, Trump’s First Amendment rights “aren’t violated by” the gag order.
Trump was found guilty in May by a jury of his peers on all 34 counts against him in his New York hush-money trial.
His 34 charges were for allegedly falsifying business documents in an attempt to cover up an affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He has since denied the affair and pleaded not guilty to all charges prior to his conviction while maintaining his innocence.
He railed against the gag order and violated the court order multiple times during the trial, fined $10,000 in the process and made more than one attempt to get it struck down.
Trump last week met virtually for the first time with his probation officer in a pre-sentencing interview after the guilty verdict.
Trump’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11, four days before the July 15 start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee where Trump is expected to accept the Republican nomination, in-person or virtually, in a second election battle showdown with President Joe Biden.
But Trump’s legal woes still continue in other states. A former Justice Department official said Tuesday on social media how the New York Court of Appeals choice to deny Trump’s appeal “reinforces how easy the issue before [Florida Judge Aileen Cannon] is.”
“She has scheduled a hearing for next week and then we’ll see how complicated she makes it,” former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman posted on X.
