This Monday, Donald Trump's legal team presented an application to a New York appeals court to revoke the gag order issued by Judge Juan Merchan, in charge of the judicial process related to the alleged payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Just a few days before the start of the trial for the alleged manipulation of financial records to cover up transactions related to alleged marital infidelities, the former president and his legal team made a last attempt to postpone the judicial process currently scheduled for April 15.
Although court documents on this effort have not been made public, several reports indicate that Trump's lawyers asked to appeal the order, postpone the trial, and move it out of Manhattan, which has historically been predominantly Democratic.
Notably, the trial was initially scheduled for late March. However, it was postponed by three weeks after Trump's lawyers asked for more time to review nearly 100,000 pages of records recently turned over by federal prosecutors.
The order of silence
At the end of March, Judge Merchan issued an order prohibiting the former president from making statements about witnesses, prosecutors, jurors, court personnel or relatives of personnel involved in the criminal trial. The judge based his decision on Trump's "prior extrajudicial statements," which he described as "threatening, inflammatory and denigrating." According to Merchan, these statements could represent a risk to the administration of justice.
Trump asks Merchan to step aside from the case
In addition to this appeal, Trump is requesting that Judge Merchan recuse himself from the case, arguing a conflict of interest because the judge's daughter has Democratic clients who raised $93 million as a result of the judgment.
The case against Trump
In this judicial process, Trump faces 34 charges related to falsifying business records in the first degree. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argues that the former president manipulated records to conceal what he describes as "criminal conduct" during his 2016 presidential campaign related to payments to cover up alleged marital infidelities. Trump has emphatically denied all allegations against him.
It is important to note that, in 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York decided not to file charges against the former president in relation to these payments. Additionally, the Federal Election Commission closed its investigation in 2021. But, despite these previous decisions, Bragg insists on moving forward with the judicial process against Trump.
