New York Judge Juan Merchan refused a motion by former President Donald Trump's attorneys to amend the gag order against the former president on Thursday afternoon, reported MSNBC's Adam Klasfeld.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that the former president should be allowed to "respond publicly" to adult film star Stormy Daniels, a key witness in the Manhattan hush money case, now that she has already delivered her testimony. But Merchan said he simply could not trust that the former president would respond in a civil way and not engage in further witness intimidation.
"That's just not the track record," said Merchan, adding, "Your client's track record speaks for itself."
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Despite this, Merchan appeared to acknowledge that Trump might be in his rights to respond if he is directly attacked or insulted himself.
The former president has repeatedly launched social media attacks and insults against potential witnesses in the trial, and at some points has even accused the jury of being biased against him. Merchan has in turn found multiple times that Trump is in contempt of court, issued fines, and threatened him with jail time if the behavior continues.
During Daniels' testimony, Trump also audibly cursed in the courtroom, which led Merchan to order Blanche to keep his client under control.
The request to amend the gag order is one of multiple motions being requested by the defense. They are also seeking a mistrial, on the grounds of Daniels' testimony about her alleged affair with Trump and some personal details about his private life being too prejudicial. A mistrial motion from the defense was also made earlier this week, which Merchan already denied.
Among other things, Daniels testified that although she was not assaulted by Trump, she felt uncomfortably compelled to do as he asked because of the power dynamic between them.
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