(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) With a formal arrest scheduled for Tuesday following last week’s grand-jury indictment, former President Donald Trump’s legal team expects Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan to put a gag order on Trump, forcing him to remain silent on the matter until his trial.
Merchan also presided over a tax-fraud case related to the Trump Organization last year, the verdict of which ultimately went against the company, the Daily Mail reported.
“The Trump legal team now thinks that the Manhattan judge will take the unprecedented step of silencing the presidential frontrunner with an unconstitutional gag order tomorrow,” an inside source told the Daily Mail, adding that the legal team will appeal to his right to free speech.
“The Trump legal team is considering adding a First Amendment lawyer to the effort to combat this and will fight it all the way.”
Trump’s legal team has previously announced that it will be making a motion to dismiss the charges, which were previously dropped by federal prosecutors but picked up by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after he won his election on a platform of investigating the rival political leader.
“We will take the indictment. We will dissect it,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said during a Sunday CNN appearance.
“The team will look at every, every potential issue that we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge,” he said.
Tacopina also suggested that the New York City prosecutor seemed to be taking tremendous liberties with the legal code.
“And of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there’s no law that fits this,” he said.
Though the charges remained sealed on Monday, most believe that the New York City jury chose to indict Trump related to his $130,000 hush money payment made to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels in 2016.
At best, the charge would be a misdemeanor under New York law if Trump failed to report a so-called campaign expense, but Bragg’s team would have to prove intent based on the testimony of convicted perjurer Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer.
The case, which began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., also has surpassed the statute of limitations under state law—barring any new, surprise charges that would apply under federal law.
A Trump spokesman condemned the partisan courts for manipulating both the facts and public opinion.
“President Trump stands for transparency and our American Constitution, and any attempt to prevent him, the leading candidate for president, from exercising his First Amendment right is a tyrannical, third-world country move which further proves that this is nothing more than a political witch-hunt utilizing a weaponized justice system,” said the statement.
The spokesman also noted that such nonsense “should never be tolerated” by Americans because the trial is nothing more than an attempt “to manipulate and interfere with an election against President Trump and his supporters.”
