Michael Cohen may join his old boss Donald Trump under a gag order in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial.
The former president was found in contempt of court and fined $9,000 for violating the order imposed by New York Justice Juan Merchan in the case, but a pair of legal experts agreed Trump's former attorney and fixer could also get slapped with a gag order to prevent him from discussing the case, reported Newsweek.
"Witnesses need to keep their mouths shut until they are in the courtroom," said Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney and MSNBC legal analyst.
Vance told "The Insider Podcast" that it "would have been fair" for Merchan to place limits on his comments about the case, and she said prosecutors had probably hoped the judge would place both Cohen and Trump under a gag order at the same time.
"[Cohen] has been out there, shooting his mouth off and talking all kinds of trash about Trump and about the trial," said former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara, who was abruptly fired by Trump early in his presidency. "It doesn't seem quite right."
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The former president has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursements to Cohen, who had Daniels, a porn actress, shortly before the 2016 election to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump so voters would not find out.
The judge found Trump had on nine occasions violated the gag order, which prohibits him from making public comments about witnesses or jurors, but Merchan did not fine him for an alleged 10th violation because it was in response to remarks by Cohen, which was "sufficient to give this Court pause."