“This is a witch hunt by a radical attorney general,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in court.
New York:
Former President Donald Trump returned to his civil fraud trial in New York on Tuesday, complaining about a partial gag order imposed on him by a judge in a separate case.
Trump’s former personal attorney turned enemy, Michael Cohen, was scheduled to testify at the trial on Tuesday but postponed his appearance to attend to what he said was a medical problem.
Trump, 77, spoke to reporters as he arrived in the Manhattan courtroom, where he attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the civil fraud case against him, the judge who presided over the trial, and President Joe Biden.
“This is a witch hunt by a radical, insane attorney general,” Trump said.
“This is a rigged trial,” he added, with a “Democratic judge” who is “very liberal.”
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, also falsely claimed that the federal judge, who will preside over his trial in Washington for conspiring to overturn the 2020 US election, had deprived him of his “right to speak”.
“My speech has been taken away from me,” he said. ‘I am a candidate running for office and I am not allowed to speak.
“This is a railroad that all comes from the Department of Justice,” the former president said. “It’s all set up by Biden and the thugs he’s surrounded by to try to steal an election victory he’s not entitled to.”
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not strip Trump of his right to speak. Instead, she ordered him not to make any public statements against prosecutors, court staff or potential witnesses ahead of the trial set to begin in Washington in March 2024.
Chutkan’s ruling came after special counsel Jack Smith, a frequent target of Trump’s vitriol, filed a motion alleging that the real estate mogul’s inflammatory rhetoric threatened to undermine his trial for election subversion.
In her written order released Tuesday, Chutkan noted that individuals have been “threatened and harassed” following public statements by the former president.
“(Trump) has made these statements to the national audience, communicating in language not only that he believes the trial is unlawful, but also that certain individuals involved are liars, or ‘criminals,’ or deserve death,” the judge said.
She said the partial gag order applies only to comments about prosecutors, court staff and witnesses and that Trump is free to make statements “criticizing the government in general, including the current administration or department of Justice’.
He is also free to assert his innocence, claim his prosecution is politically motivated and criticize his political rivals, Chutkan said.
– $250 million fine –
Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversees New York’s civil fraud trial, also imposed a limited gag order on the former president this month after he insulted a law clerk in a social media post.
Trump is not required to attend the trial in New York, but he showed up for the first three days of it and has used his appearances to portray himself as the victim of a Democratic plot to interfere with his presidential campaign.
New York’s attorney general has ordered Trump, his sons Eric and Don Jr. and other Trump Organization executives accused of vastly inflating the value of their real estate to receive more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.
Trump faces no jail time in the fraud trial, but James, a Democrat, is seeking $250 million in fines and the removal of the former president and his sons from management of the family empire.
The federal election conspiracy trial will begin in Washington on March 4, the day before one of the biggest events on the Republican primary calendar, the so-called “Super Tuesday,” when about 15 states hold their nominating votes.
Trump also faces federal charges for alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House, and has been charged with racketeering in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in the Southern state.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
