Trump Says Gag Order Gives Harris Unfair ‘Felon’ Attack Boost

Donald Trump asked a New York appeals court to remove a gag order against him in his hush-money criminal case so he can fully respond to Kamala Harris’ claim that the November election is a choice between a prosecutor and a “convicted felon.”

Vice President Harris, the presumed Democratic nominee and a former California attorney general, has made Trump’s guilty verdict the “central focus” of her campaign, defense attorney Todd Blanche said in a July 30 filing. He asked the New York appeals court to expedite Trump’s request to lift the gag order, because it prevents him from giving details on why he says the case is politically motivated.

If the request isn’t granted, Trump “faces constant threat of punishment and fines due to alleged violations of the gag order and suffers irreparable First Amendment harms by being subjected to constant political attacks without being able to fully respond and defend himself,” Blanche said in the filing.

The request comes more than a week after President Joe Biden’s abrupt exit from the race upended the contest. Since Harris emerged as Trump’s main Democratic rival, his campaign has been scrambling to settle on effective messages to attack the vice president, a Black and Asian-American woman with a history in law enforcement, who at 59 is nearly two decades younger than her Republican rival.

A Manhattan jury on May 30 found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election. Trump denies wrongdoing and claims without evidence that the case — along with three other criminal prosecutions — is part of a Democratic “witch hunt” intended to keep him from regaining the White House.

The gag order, intended to protect the safety of individuals involved in the case, bars Trump from commenting on prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office or family members of the judge. It was narrowed after the trial to allow Trump to comment on witnesses during his appeal of the verdict, which is ongoing. 

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