A New York appeals court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump’s appeal seeking to lift a media blackout order he received in a New York criminal secrecy lawsuit earlier this year.
The court’s decision means that the press ban, in its revised form in June, will remain in place for now.
The former president has been largely unsuccessful in his fight against an order from Judge Juan Merchant, who oversaw the landmark trial that convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business documents. The case involved a hush money payment made by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels, allegedly at Trump’s direction.
Trump is prohibited from attacking prosecutors and court staff or revealing juror-identifying information. The gag order does not prohibit him from speaking about Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The June amendment lifted parts of the original order, allowing Trump to attack witnesses, including Daniels and Cohen, and speak to jurors in a way that did not reveal personal information, but it cited safety concerns in removing other parts.
The appeals court ruled that Merchan “properly weighed petitioners’ First Amendment rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases and the right of persons connected or indirectly connected with criminal proceedings to be free from intimidation, threats, harassment, and harm.”
During the seven-week trial, Trump was found to have violated the press ban 10 times and was fined $10,000.
When Trump was convicted on May 30, Merchant set his sentencing date for July 11.
But a July 1 Supreme Court ruling threw a wrench into those plans. The court ruled that the U.S. president has “absolute immunity” for “official” actions that are part of his core constitutional powers.
Merchant is expected to rule in September on how the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling applies to President Trump’s money laundering case.
President Trump’s new sentencing date has been set for September 18.
