Posted on 05/23/2023 10:47:06 AM PDT by Olog-hai
A recent $5 million defamation verdict hasn’t kept Donald Trump quiet. Will a stern warning from the judge in his Manhattan criminal case?
That’s the question looming over a hybrid hearing Tuesday where the former president is set be instructed on new rules barring him from using evidence in the hush-money case to attack witnesses who could testify against him.
Trump won’t have to show up to court for the afternoon hearing at a Manhattan courthouse, avoiding the mammoth security and logistical challenges that accompanied his arraignment last month.
Instead, the Republican will be connected by video conference, with his face beamed onto courtroom TV monitors. His lawyers and prosecutors must still appear in person. […]
The judge in Trump’s criminal case, Juan Manuel Merchan, issued a protective order May 8 listing restrictions on Trump’s pretrial behavior. He agreed to take the extra step of personally instructing him on the rules in light of Trump’s public persona and status as a current presidential candidate.
Trump is allowed to speak publicly about the criminal case, according to Merchan’s order, but he risks being held in contempt if he uses evidence turned over by prosecutors in the pretrial discovery process to target witnesses or others involved in the case. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
He is free to use the evidence in his favor - in court, not in public, according to the judge. Whether that restriction is legal may be decided by a higher court.
That’s not what the judicial edict says.
So tell me what the “judicial edict” says - not what you think it said, not what someone else reported, but the actual transcript of the statement from the judge, not edited or truncated, in context.
Key Facts
The protective order by Judge Juan Merchan said any evidence provided by prosecutors during the discovery process can only be used to help the former president prepare a defense, and Trump can only view certain sensitive evidence in his attorneys’ presence.Merchan said discovery evidence cannot be shared on a litany of social media sites, including mainstream platforms as well as Truth Social, a site controlled by Trump Media & Technology Group that the former president has frequently used to criticize prosecutors.
The order does not apply to evidence provided to prosecutors by Trump’s team, and at a hearing last week, Marchan reportedly said Trump can still discuss the “vast majority of the evidence” in the case, as long as he doesn’t disclose materials obtained by prosecutors.
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