United States: The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial decided on Friday to submit a memo to the prosecutors requesting Michael Cohen, the former attorney, and fixer of Trump, to stop making statements in public regarding the case before his testimony, scheduled to be made next week.
Cohen’s Social Media Post Sparks Concern
Todd Blanche, Trump’s defense attorney in court for hush money to the porn star, said Cohen, the starry prosecution witness, posted on social media today that in an hour, he wore a t-shirt showing Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, behind bars, as reported by Reuters.
Justice Juan Merchan advised prosecutors to ask Cohen to refrain from public statements because of the bench. However, he referred to the last day of the first criminal trial, which involved a sitting or former United States president.
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told the prosecutors to do it subconsciously. Cohen’s lawyer did not respond immediately upon request to comment on the judge’s statements or at the time of his expected testimony.
The testimony of Cohen, which comes as a high drama when he also once said he would take a bullet for his boss, is the most significant move for the prosecution.
Prosecution Relies on Cohen’s Testimony
Trump stands accusation that he changed the Trump organization’s records to conceal Cohen’s USD 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, which was intended to maintain her silence over the sexual affair between her and Trump in 2006.
Trump, who is 77 years old, pleaded not guilty to all thirty-four counts of falsifying business records and insists on not having a sexual experience with Daniels, who is 45.
By the Friday before, Mr. Steinglass, the Assistant District Attorney, informed the judge that his team would call two witnesses on Monday and could rest their case until the end of next week.
Cohen also added that he will testify shortly in the podcast held this past Thursday.
Trump has alleged that the attempt to involve his campaign is nothing less than a politically motivated plot to meddle with him in his hunting for the Presidency in the coming Nov. 5 U.S. election of his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden.
Merchan has fined Trump USD 10,000 for breaching the gag order restricting his public comments about witnesses, jurors, and other participants in this case. He has also warned him that he may face time if he ever violates this order again.
Trump Responds to Trial Proceedings
Trump has insisted that it violates his First Amendment right to free speech and has said that he is unable to reply to the witnesses who are accusing him, for instance, Cohen and Daniels.
“He wants to put me in jail. And that could happen one day, and I’d be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution,” Trump told reporters after the trial ended for the day.
Prosecution Alleges Campaign Finance Violations
Prosecutors maintain that the money that was paid to Daniels and another woman who claims to have had an affair with Trump, Playboy model Karen McDougal, was part of what they call a comprehensive scheme to corrupt the 2016 elections by buying the silence of witnesses who had information harmful to the election campaign, which is illegal under the campaign finance laws, as reported by Reuters.
In this election, Trump won the race against Hillary Clinton, who represented the Democratic party for the Presidency. Trump also denies having had an affair with McDougal, who, according to sources, will not be part of the testimonies.