Trump, through his legal team, requested that Judge Merchan exempt Stormy Daniels from the gag order so that he could attack her. The judge denied the request.
Prosecutors argued that exempted Daniels or other witnesses would be dangerous to them and their families.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy said, “The fact that witnesses are brave enough to come in here under subpoena … shouldn’t expose them to this defendant’s barrage of threats that will put them and potentially their families in danger.”
Judge Merchan agreed with prosecutors and denied the motion to modify the gag order, “The reason why the gag order is in place to begin with is precisely because of the nature of these attacks, the vitriol. These were very real, very threatening attacks on potential witnesses.”
Donald Trump’s frustration that he can’t use his platform to intimidate witnesses is growing. A big part of Trump’s defense strategy was to unleash harassment and threats on anyone who would testify against him at the trial. Judge Merchan isn’t going along with it, because of the ex-president’s long record of attacking anyone involved with his trial.
Witnesses would not be safe if the gag order was modified. Trump is a threat to those who are involved in this trial, and the fact that he pushed for this motion signals that the former president is getting close to his breaking point and an explosion could soon be coming.
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