Former President Donald Trump boards his airplane after talking at a marketing campaign occasion in Manchester, New Hampshire, April 27, 2023.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Put up | Getty Photos
A decide Monday barred former President Donald Trump from making public proof and different materials associated to a pending prison case in opposition to him in New York, the place he’s charged with falsifying enterprise data associated to a 2016 hush cash cost to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Decide Juan Merchan additionally barred Trump from viewing proof within the case apart from within the presence of his legal professionals. The ex-president shouldn’t be allowed to repeat the fabric.
The Manhattan District Lawyer’s Workplace sought the protecting order because of considerations Trump would “inappropriately” use the fabric or submit the knowledge on social media or elsewhere.
A prosecutor at a listening to final week in Manhattan Supreme Court docket known as that danger “substantial.”
Trump’s legal professionals opposed that request, which pertains to so-called discovery materials, the paperwork, correspondence and different gadgets exchanged between opposing events in a authorized case earlier than trial.
Trump, who’s the main contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was arraigned in courtroom final month within the case. He has pleaded not responsible.
His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, shortly earlier than the 2016 presidential election paid Daniels, whose authorized identify is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 to maintain her quiet about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump years earlier.
Trump denies having intercourse with Daniels, however reimbursed Cohen for the payoff, which was claimed to be for authorized bills in enterprise data.
Within the prosecution’s movement for a protecting order, assistant DA Catherine McCaw wrote, “Donald J. Trump has a longstanding and maybe singular historical past of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, trial jurors, grand jurors, judges, and others concerned in authorized proceedings in opposition to him, placing these people and their households at appreciable security danger.”
Merchan, in his order Monday, wrote all materials supplied by the DA’s workplace to Trump’s legal professionals “shall be used solely for the needs of getting ready a protection on this matter.”
“Any one that receives the Coated Supplies shall not copy, disseminate, or disclose the Coated Supplies, in any type or by any means, to any third celebration,” which incorporates posting the fabric on social media websites, Merchan wrote.
The decide additionally stated the names and figuring out data of DA staff within the case, apart from sworn members of regulation enforcement, assistant DAs and knowledgeable witnesses, could be delayed till the beginning of jury choice.