The expanded silence order includes punishment for withholding juror names from Trump if his conduct continues, so Trump responded by attacking the silence order.
Lawfare’s Roger Parloff noted that the extended silence order now has some teeth:
…Although jurors’ names will be protected from *public* dissemination, Trump and his lawyers would normally have access so they can investigate open source information about them, such as political registration and social media accounts. …
/2– Roger Parloff (@rparloff) April 2, 2024
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That’s great and all, but it doesn’t seem to have done anything to stop Trump, who is now posting videos of Fox News spreading his attacks on his behalf.
Posting a video of Fox News saying something is not a violation of the gag order since Trump himself did not say it.
Any silence orders are problematic for Trump as he is running for president to avoid a criminal conviction. So if he can’t use the campaign platform to avoid conviction, it undermines his purpose for running for office.
Sarah Jones asks the most important question:
If Trump continues to go after Judge Merchan’s daughter, the names of the jurors could *possibly* be withheld from the defendant.
Yet Jack Smith has been forced to file for jury protection in several Trump cases involving intimidation.
Why are the names even on the table? https://t.co/GX0UrfRkw0
– Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 2, 2024
It’s part of New York statute that his legal team has access to juror names so that every defendant can get a fair defense, but Donald Trump continues to prove why he shouldn’t have access. It would be difficult to name another criminal defendant who has attacked the courts, judges and witnesses, and who is likely to do the same publicly against jurors in criminal cases, as the ex-president has done.
If there was ever a case where the judge considers it a security issue if a suspect doesn’t have access to the names of the jurors, it’s this one.
Trump will continue to play games and find ways to circumvent the technical language of any silence order imposed on him.
To really get his attention, the court should revoke his bail.
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Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Pricing and professional memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association