唐纳德·特朗普的律师正在继续推动终止他的有限禁言令纽约封口费案件认为川普的“政治对手”——包括总统乔·拜登、罗伯特·德尼罗、迈克尔·科恩和斯托米·丹尼尔斯——正在利用禁言令作为攻击前总统的“利剑”。
在本周提交的一份长达21页的文件中，特朗普的律师认为，禁言令是对特朗普演讲的“非同寻常、前所未有和毫无根据的限制”，已经造成了不可挽回的伤害。
文件称:“这些违规行为不仅损害了特朗普总统，也损害了所有美国人民接受和参与特朗普总统受保护的竞选演讲的宪法权利。”
特朗普在5月份被被判有罪在所有34项重罪指控中，他伪造了与封口费向成人电影女演员丹尼尔斯付款有关的商业记录，以提高他在2016年总统大选中的竞选前景。
上周，特朗普的律师法官胡安·梅尔科姆问道终止禁止特朗普公开评论证人、陪审员和其他诉讼参与者的禁言令。禁言令并不影响川普对法官曼哈顿地方检察官·阿尔文·布拉格或拜登发表评论的能力。在审判期间，法官Merchan以违反有限禁言令为由10次判定特朗普犯有刑事藐视罪，该禁令不适用于拜登总统。
布拉格上周回应称，为了保护诉讼程序的完整性，禁言令应该至少持续到特朗普定于7月11日宣判之前。Merchan法官要求就这一主题作进一步的情况介绍。
特朗普本周提交的文件重申了他们的主要论点，即由于审判已经结束，禁言令不再有必要，他们认为特朗普的言论不再对诉讼程序构成明显危险。辩护律师认为，特朗普应该能够回应政治对手的“攻击”，并援引了5月28日拜登竞选活动中德尼罗的发言以及拜登本人在判决后的讲话。
文件称:“5月31日，拜登总统在新闻发布会上就判决发表了精心策划的言论后，当被问及特朗普总统是否是他的‘政治犯’时，他对聚集的媒体镜头露出了令人不安的笑容。”
辩护律师还认为，特朗普的前律师、审判的明星证人科恩在判决后多次“嘲笑”特朗普，丹尼尔斯在采访中暗示特朗普的妻子梅拉尼娅应该离开他。
文件称:“特朗普总统的反对者和对手正在利用禁言令作为一把政治利剑，就此案攻击特朗普总统，因为他做出详细回应的能力受到禁言令的严重限制。”
特朗普的律师还辩称，布拉格推动保持禁言令是与“拜登总统及其重叠的同伙”协调的“法律策略”的一部分，目的是在选举前夕让前总统保持沉默，但没有提供证据。
“这种非法的限制在这里将是令人震惊的，地方检察官布拉格正在寻求帮助拜登总统和他的政治同伙，要求法院在即将举行的总统辩论期间和之后让特朗普总统保持沉默，”该文件说。“更糟糕的是，地方检察官在一起案件中采用了这种策略，他错误地声称，这是关于通过涉嫌向选民隐瞒信息来影响2016年选举。讽刺是显而易见的。”
这份文件被归档的同一天，一名司法部高级官员证实，对司法部记录的广泛搜索找不到联系人布拉格的办公室和与特朗普案件有关的DOJ高级官员之间的对话，推翻了这位前总统一再声称联邦官员协调了起诉的说法。
特朗普被判有罪一天后，拜登总统表示，此案“是一个州案件，不是联邦案件。”
“现在他将有机会，正如他应该做的那样，就像其他人一样，对这一决定提出上诉，”拜登说。“这就是美国司法系统的运作方式，这是鲁莽的、危险的，任何人仅仅因为不喜欢判决就说这是操纵的，这是不负责任的。”
Trump cites Biden’s 'disturbing grin' in effort to terminate limited gag order in hush money case
Donald Trump's lawyers are continuing their push to terminate the limited gag order in hisNew York hush money case, arguing that Trump's "political opponents" -- including President Joe Biden, Robert DeNiro, Michael Cohen, and Stormy Daniels -- are using the gag order as a "sword" to attack the former president.
In a 21-page filing this week, Trump's lawyers argued that the gag order was an "extraordinary, unprecedented, and unwarranted restriction" on Trump's speech that has caused irreparable harm.
"These violations have harmed not only President Trump, but also the constitutional rights of all American people to receive and engage with President Trump's protected campaign speech," the filing said.
Trump in May wasfound guiltyon all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to Daniels, an adult film actress, in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Last week, Trump's lawyersasked Judge Juan Merchanto terminate the gag order, which prohibits Trump from making public comments about witnesses, jurors, and other participants in the proceedings. The gag order does not impact Trump's ability to make comments about the judge, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, or Biden. During the trial, Judge Merchan held Trump in criminal contempt 10 times for violating the limited gag order, which does not apply to President Biden.
Bragg responded last week by arguing that the gag order should remain in place at least until Trump's sentencing -- scheduled for July 11 -- in order to protect the integrity of the proceedings. Judge Merchan asked for further briefings on the topic.
Trump's filing this week renewed their main argument that the gag order is no longer necessary since the trial has ended, arguing that Trump's remarks no longer present a clear danger to the proceedings. Defense lawyers argued that Trump should be able to respond to "attacks" from his political opponents, citing a Biden campaign event on May 28 featuring DeNiro as well as remarks from Biden himself following the verdict.
"On May 31, following carefully scripted remarks about the verdict at a press conference, President Biden offered a disturbing grin to the gathered media cameras when asked whether President Trump is his 'political prisoner,'" the filing said.
Defense lawyers also argued that Cohen, Trump's former attorney and the trial's star witness, repeatedly "mocked" Trump following the verdict and that Daniels suggested in a interview that Trump's wife Melania should leave him.
"President Trump's opponents and adversaries are using the Gag Order as a political sword to attack President Trump with reference to this case, on the understanding that his ability to mount a detailed response is severely restricted by the Gag Order," the filing said.
Trump's lawyers also argued, without providing evidence, that Bragg's push to keep the gag order in place was part of a coordinated "lawfare strategy" with "President Biden and their overlapping cast of associates" to silence the former president in the runup to the election.
"Such an unlawful restraint would be egregious here, where District Attorney Bragg is seeking to help President Biden and his political associates by asking the Court to silence President Trump during and after the upcoming presidential debate," the filing said. "Worse still, the District Attorney is pursuing that strategy in a case he claims, falsely, is about influencing the 2016 election by allegedly withholding information from voters. The irony is palpable."
The filing was docketed the same day that a top Department of Justice official confirmed that an extensive search of Justice Department recordsfound no contactsbetween Bragg's office and senior DOJ officials related to the Trump case, discrediting the former president's repeated claim that federal officials coordinated the prosecution.
Speaking a day after Trump was found guilty, President Biden said the case "was a state case, not a federal case."
"Now he'll be given the opportunity, as he should, to appeal that decision, just like everyone else has that opportunity," Biden said. "That's how the American system of justice works, and it’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don't like the verdict."
