Donald Trump wants to take his fight over the gag order in his New York civil fraud case to the state’s highest court, his lawyers said Monday, as The Post learned that the former president plans to attend the trial in Manhattan at end of this week.
Trump, 77, is asking permission to take his case to the New York Court of Appeals after a lower appeals court last week reinstated the limited gag order barring him and his lawyers from speaking publicly about the judge’s staff.
The request, filed Monday morning, came during the 10th week of trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit that threatens the real estate mogul’s business empire.
Trump’s defense lawyers hope to finish presenting their side next week, and the 45th president plans to come to the lower Manhattan courthouse on Thursday to observe the proceedings, a source familiar with the case said.
His son, Eric Trump, is scheduled to testify for the second time in the trial on Wednesday.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is deciding the case without a jury, gagged Trump on the second day of the trial in October after the former president targeted the judge’s chief law clerk, Allison Greenfield, online. social.
Donald Trump wants New York’s highest court to overturn a gag order in a civil fraud trial. AFP via Getty Images
Engoron then slapped the 2024 Republican presidential candidate with a total fine of $15,000, finding that he had violated the order twice.
Trump appealed, claiming the gag order violated his right to free speech, and managed to get a mid-level appeals court judge, David Friedman, to temporarily lift the ban last month.
But a four-judge panel overturned Friedman’s ruling two weeks later, on Nov. 30, and reinstated the gag order, prompting Trump to ask an even higher court to throw it out.
In court papers Monday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the order restricts his and their client’s speech, and denies their First Amendment right “to highlight serious concerns raised by the public and partisan activities” of Trump’s top legal assistant. Engoron during the ongoing trial.
The gag order was imposed by trial judge Arthur Engoron on the second day of the trial. REUTERS
If the matter is not “accelerated,” the Trump side “will continue to suffer irreparable harm on a daily basis as they are silenced on matters involving the appearance of bias and impropriety in court during a high-stakes trial,” the lawyers wrote.
Later Monday, a judge on the mid-level appeals court, Appellate Division, First Department, denied Trump’s attempt to expedite his appeal of the gag order, noting that a full panel of judges would need to rule on the matter. .
Trump can still try to have his appeal heard in the high court, but it won’t be as quick as he hoped and that means the gag will likely remain in place if he appears in court on Thursday and during his testimony scheduled for Monday.
The Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn