The temporary pause on the order allows former president Donald Trump and his defense team to discuss the judge’s law clerk, pending further appellate review.
An appellate judge on Thursday temporarily lifted a limited gag order issued against Donald Trump and his attorneys in the $250 million civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The temporary pause on the order allows Trump and his defense team to discuss the judge’s law clerk, pending further appellate review. The decision followed a hearing at the Appellate Division’s First Department before Judge David Friedman.
Friedman wrote after hearing arguments that the stay was being imposed in consideration of “constitutional and statutory rights at issue.”
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise argued that security concerns cited by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the fraud trial and issued the gag order against Trump on Oct. 3, are undermined because the judge allows news photographers to take pictures of his clerk.
“If I were concerned about my safety I wouldn’t be sitting there mugging for the camera repeatedly every time the cameras come in,” Kise argued to Friedman, noting that as Trump’s attorney for about a year, he has also received threats.
Kise also said it is not proper to impose a speech prohibition “based on an audience’s reaction.” He said Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, had a right to free speech for campaign purposes.
