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full screen Former US President Donald Trump at a press conference in connection with the date for the start of the trial being announced on Monday, March 25. Photo: Frank Franklin/AP/TT
US ex-president Donald Trump has been charged with a so-called “gag order” by a judge.
It prohibits him from speaking publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors connected to a trial in New York.
The ban applies to statements deemed to have the intent to disrupt the case, according to Judge Juan Merchan.
The case concerns, among other things, payments via Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to porn actor Stormy Daniels, with the requirement that she keep quiet about a sexual relationship with Trump.
The trial starts on April 15 and will be the first to run out of the four criminal charges brought against Trump, who is likely to be the Republican candidate in the fall presidential election.
The decision came just a few hours after Trump, in a post on his own platform Truth Social, attacked Judge Merchan, whom he called a “certified Trump hater.”
However, the ban does not specifically prevent him from criticizing the judge.