'Allow him to speak': Expert gives shocking reason to end Trump's hush money gag order

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

One legal expert says a surprising person should want Judge Juan Merchan to lift his gag order against the newly convicted former President Donald Trump.

Elliot Williams, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room" to argue Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should not challenge Trump's new demand to have his gag order lifted.

"If I were the prosecution here, why not throw this out," he said. "It's almost in their interests to have the gag order lifted because you can almost assume that this defendant [Trump] is going to keep speaking out in a manner that the judge could actually use it."

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The former president's attorneys submitted a letter Monday arguing the order creates “continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump."

Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records to fudge a series of payments executed by his then fixer Michael Cohen to buy the silence of women alleging affairs with him in order to corrupt the 2016 election.

Trump denied the affairs and plans to appeal the verdict.

Merchan muzzled defendant Trump to protect him from spewing disparaging statements against witnesses, jurors, court staff, and his and Bragg.

Trump was found to have violated the terms of the gag order, forcing Merchan to fine him $1,000 apiece, and then threaten to jail him if he failed to stop.

“This is a scam," Trump said. "There’s a rigged trial. It shouldn’t have been in that venue. We shouldn’t have had that judge.”

That kind of lack of remorse may come back to bite Trump, Williams argued.

"So what we in English recall remorse, what lawyers would call acceptance of responsibility — is a factor that plays an at sentencing," said Williams. "And a defendant that is not showing this remorse or acceptance of responsibility can be can under the lobby sentence much higher."

Tim Parlatore, who used to represent Trump in his federal classified documents case before he quit it, agreed with Williams.

"Elliott's absolutely right," he told Blitzer. "I mean, there's a difference between what I want a judge to order my client to do and what I as an attorney would tell my client to do.

"I think that it is in the prosecution's best interest to allow him to speak so that they could use things as sentencing."

Conversely, Parlatore thinks Trump's campaign should run interference against his attorneys.

"Quite frankly, I think it's in the campaign's best interest to leave the gag order in place because he gets a lot more support from saying, 'Hey, I'm not allowed to talk!'"

Watch the clip below or click here.

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