{"id":17381,"date":"2024-03-28T12:46:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/former-watergate-prosecutor-calls-trump-gag-order-so-unusual-this-never-happens\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T12:46:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T12:46:43","slug":"former-watergate-prosecutor-calls-trump-gag-order-so-unusual-this-never-happens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/28\/former-watergate-prosecutor-calls-trump-gag-order-so-unusual-this-never-happens\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Watergate prosecutor calls Trump gag order \u2018so unusual\u2019: \u2018This never happens\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, said that in his 50-some years in law, he has never seen a gag order like the one imposed on former President Trump in his hush money payments case this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Judge Juan Merchan issued the gag order on Tuesday following a request from Manhattan District Attorney\u00a0Alvin Bragg.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is so unusual,\u2019 Akerman told CNN\u2019s Fredericka Whitfield on Wednesday. \u2018This never happens, in over 50 years in law practice, both as a prosecutor and a defense lawyer.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added, \u2018It\u2019s not done, and the reason it\u2019s not done is because once you start disparaging the judge, disparaging people in the courtroom, you\u2019re putting yourself in harm\u2019s way because that\u2019s the judge that\u2019s going to sentence you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Akerman added that Trump is\u00a0\u2018the only one I have ever seen do this and do it in such an outrageous way that it\u2019s really forced the courts \u2013 to where does the First Amendment stop and where do we need a gag order in order to protect the judicial system?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has been highly critical of the judge, calling the gag order\u00a0\u2018illegal, un-American, unconstitutional,\u2019 saying that Merchan was \u2018wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump even suggested that the gag order was related to Merchan\u2019s adult daughter\u2019s work as the president of a political consulting firm.<\/p>\n

\u2018Judge Juan Merchan, who is suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (whose daughter represents Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam \u2018Shifty\u2019 Schiff, and other Radical Liberals, has just posted a picture of me behind bars, her obvious goal, and makes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial) has now issued another illegal, un-American, unConstitutional \u2018order,\u2019 as he continues to try and take away my Rights,\u2019 Trump wrote on Truth Social.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In issuing the gag order, the judge cited Trump\u2019s \u2018prior extrajudicial statements,\u2019 saying they establish \u2018a sufficient risk to the administration of justice.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Merchan ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses concerning their potential participation, or about counsel in the case \u2014 other than Bragg \u2014 or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.<\/p>\n

Merchan also ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about any prospective juror or chosen juror.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Merchan said in his decision that Trump has made statements in the past during other trials \u2014 likely referring to the months-long non-jury civil fraud trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James\u2019 case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018lndeed, his statements were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating, and the targets of his statements ranged from local and federal officials, court and court staff, prosecutors and staff assigned to the cases, and private individuals including grand jurors performing their civic duty,\u2019 Merchan writes. \u2018The consequences of those statements included not only fear on the part of the individual targeted, but also the assignment of increased security resources to investigate threats and protect the individuals and family members thereof.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Akerman added later on X, \u2018Trump\u2019s unprecedented pattern of disparaging and threatening judges, prosecutors and witnesses is self-destructive and makes it more likely he will end up in the slammer.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who served under Trump, told Fox News, \u2018I think these gag orders are very dangerous\u2026 The First Amendment is fairly broad in its protection of our right to speak and speak our minds, and I think ultimately this judge is going to have to tread very carefully.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump has had two other gag orders issued against him in recent months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital\u2019s Brooke Singman and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor, said that in his 50-some years in law, he has never seen a gag order like the one imposed on former President Trump in his hush money payments case this week.\u00a0 New York Judge Juan Merchan issued the gag order on Tuesday following a request from Manhattan District Attorney\u00a0Alvin <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}