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'Republic-Ending Tactics:' Legal Expert Calls Out Latest Gag Order Request Against Trump

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  February 26, 2024 8:00 PM

A gag order request is being used against former and potentially future President Donald Trump in yet another one of his criminal trials, this time when it comes to the hush money case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg ahead of the March 25 trial. Special Counsel Jack Smith also requested a gag order in the case against Trump, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld last December. Sharing a screenshot of coverage from The New York Times, The Article 3 Project's Mike Davis lambasted the move in a post shared to his X account.

As the report shared about the request:

The requests, made in filings by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, noted Mr. Trump’s “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him.”

In outlining a narrowly crafted gag order, the office hewed closely to the terms of a similar order upheld by a federal appeals court in Washington in another of Mr. Trump’s criminal cases.

The gag order in the Manhattan case, if the judge approves it, would bar Mr. Trump from “making or directing others to make” statements about witnesses concerning their role in the case. The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, also asked that Mr. Trump be barred from commenting on prosecutors on the case — other than Mr. Bragg himself — as well as court staff members.

...

Mr. Trump’s lawyers will be likely to oppose the gag order and could appeal it if Justice Merchan adopts it. A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, declined to comment on the prosecutors’ proposal, saying that the defense’s court papers spoke for themselves.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s campaign, slammed Mr. Bragg’s request for a “restrictive gag order, which if granted, would impose an unconstitutional infringement on President Trump’s First Amendment rights, including his ability to defend himself, and the rights of all Americans to hear from President Trump.”

Davis wasn't buying the gag order, though. At the heart of such gag order are not only the First Amendment rights of the defendant, which Davis does address, and which Trump himself has brought up when railing against such gag orders before. Davis first brought up how the Sixth Amendment applies here in favor of the criminal defendant. "If there’s anyone on the planet who must have the ability to speak out about the judge, court staff, prosecutors, witnesses, and process, it is a criminal defendant going through the criminal process," his post mentioned. 

While The New York Times failed to mention the involvement of Matthew Colangelo, formerly of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and who has been previously involved in going after Trump, Davis doesn't leave him out. "Soros-funded Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, working with former top Biden DOJ operative Matthew Colangelo, are asking a New York Democrat judge to illegally gag Trump during his bogus criminal trial starting next month," he mentioned, leading him to ask "Why are they so afraid for the American people to know the truth?"

In addition to the conclusion of his post warning of "Republic-ending tactics by Democrats," Davis also referred to the gag order request as "un-American" and "a very dangerous, destructive precedent."

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The post not only called for appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved to "end this blatant lawfare and election interference," but for the DOJ under a future Trump administration to do so. 

Here's the text of Davis' post in its entirety:

Here we go again. 

Criminal defendants--not the government--have the Sixth Amendment rights to a fair, public, and speedy trial.

American citizens--not the government--have the First Amendment rights to speak out against the government.

Soros-funded Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, working with former top Biden DOJ operative Matthew Colangelo, are asking a New York Democrat judge to illegally gag Trump during his bogus criminal trial starting next month.

Why are they so afraid for the American people to know the truth?

If there’s anyone on the planet who must have the ability to speak out about the judge, court staff, prosecutors, witnesses, and process, it is a criminal defendant going through the criminal process.

This is un-American.

It is a very dangerous, destructive precedent.

Gagging a criminal defendant turns the U.S. Constitution on its head--from a shield to protect Americans from the government to a sword the government deploys to attack us.

The Democrat prosecutors and judges waging this lawfare and election interference against Trump are going to cause the federal and state judiciaries to lose their legitimacy with half the American people.

When they lose their legitimacy, they will lose their funding. As they should.

The appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, must end this blatant lawfare and election interference.

And the Trump 47 DOJ must prosecute this Biden criminal conspiracy to violate Trump's and so many others' civil rights.

These are Republic-ending tactics by Democrats.

The gag order wasn't the only request that prosecutors have asked for in going after Trump, as The New York Times report also highlighted, as they also look to introduce evidence of sexual assault allegations against Trump. 

"It is far from clear that Justice Merchan will grant those requests. Persuading him that allegations of sexual assault should be allowed could be particularly difficult, given that judges are supposed to carefully evaluate evidence that could unfairly harm a defendant in the eyes of the jury," the report mentions, though it's likely that the outlet gives the case too much credit here.

Not only does Merchan have his own political connections suggesting to a conflict of interest, as Mia highlighted last year, but it was Bragg who started the unprecedented chain of criminal indictments against the former president. Trump was indicted by a grand jury late last March and arraigned last April on 34 charges. Bragg charged Trump with felonies in a hush-money case when he could have brought the charges as misdemeanors, was using an untested legal theory, and the statute of limitations had expired. 

As Davis' post highlighted, Bragg's case and others have been sharply criticized as a form of "election interference," especially as Trump is likely to face President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election. Polls also show that voters believe these cases to be politicized, including the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released on Monday. 

There have been concerns that a guilty conviction before Election Day could hurt Trump. But, as Davis also highlighted over X on Monday, that narrative looks to have "backfire[d]," something Davis took credit for. According to that Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, voters are either equally split between Biden and Trump, or would still prefer Trump even if he was convicted in his various trials. 

"Bragg" and "Manhattan" are trending over X in part due to this request, as well as the illegal immigrants that Bragg allowed to go free even as they assault police officers. It's also been revealed that Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant charged with murdering 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Georgia had been arrested in New York City for "endangering a child."