The New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday dismissed Donald Trump’s appeal of a gag order in his Manhattan hush money trial.
In their decision, the court wrote that the former president’s appeal of the gag order was dismissed based “upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.
The former president was convicted of more than 30 felony counts in his hush money trial. He continues to deny any wrongdoing. He faced multiple gag orders during the trial and was fined for violating them. Judge Juan Merchan barred the former president from publicly attacking people involved with the trial.
Trump was accused by prosecutors of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to cover up an affair leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s gag order is still in place as he awaits sentencing, which is scheduled for July 11. Trump’s attorneys previously wrote Merchan requesting that the gag order be lifted now that “the stated bases for the gag order no longer exist,” but prosecutors want the order to remain in place through sentencing.
“The defense does not concede that there was ever a valid basis for the gag order and reserves the right to challenge the irreparable First Amendment harms caused by the order,” the letter reads.
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