Former President Trump announced Thursday morning that his defense team in the NY v. Trump case has filed a motion to appeal the “unconstitutional gag order” that was imposed on the 45th president, restricting what he can publicly say about the case.
“I just want to let you know that we’ve just filed a major motion in the appellate division concerning the absolutely unconstitutional gag order, where I’m essentially not allowed to talk to you about anything meaningful that’s going on in the case. And many good things are going on with the case. It shouldn’t have been filed,” he said.
Trump is under a gag order that prevents him from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses and their potential participation or remarks about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff. The judge in the case has ruled Trump has violated the order 10 times, resulting in a total of $10,000 in fines, and threatened jail time if Trump continues to violate the order.
Trump also read legal experts’ commentary on the case to members of the media on Thursday, when legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley slammed the trial.
“‘This is a Frankenstein case. They took a dead misdemeanor, they attached it to a dead, alleged federal felony and zapped it back into life. So many of us are just amazed to watch this actually walk into court because it’s not a recognizable crime that any of us have seen,” Trump said, quoting Fox News contributor Turley.
“‘I’ve been doing this for 60 years, and I don’t understand what crime he’s been charged with. Nobody understands this. I just don’t get the crime. There’s no evidence of any crime whatsoever. This is a sham,'” Trump continued, quoting Dershowitz.
Trump is back in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, after former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels took the stand on Tuesday, when she went into detail about her alleged affair with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006.
