Trump Goes on the Attack in the Hush Money Case

Keeping up with Donald Trump’s court schedule is a dizzying task, since he faces two federal trials, a criminal trial in Georgia, and two separate civil and criminal trials in New York. (Oh, and he’s running for president.) To make it easier to follow along, each Monday we’ll be looking back at all the Trump trial–related developments you might have missed the previous week.

Donald Trump and the Manhattan district attorney have been sparring over the limits of a newly enacted gag order in his hush money case. Meanwhile, in Georgia, Trump’s attorneys tried to convince a judge that his rhetoric in the aftermath of the 2020 election should be considered protected political speech. And this week, Trump must post a (much lower) bond in his civil fraud case in order to stop his assets from being seized.

Last week, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan issued a gag order that bans Trump from publicly commenting on court staff and attorneys (plus their family members) working on the hush money case. Then, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pushed Merchan to expand that order to include the judge himself, after Trump posted a series of comments on Truth Social attacking Merchan and his daughter.

Merchan first issued the gag order after considering how Trump had behaved in his federal election interference case—days after special counsel Jack Smith indicted him, he took to Truth Social and said, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!” After that, Judge Tanya Chutkan placed the former president under a gag order. Merchan concluded that Trump has a history of making public statements that are “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” and that go “far beyond defending himself against ‘attacks’ by ‘public figures.’ ” And with about three weeks left before the hush money case goes to trial, Merchan signed a gag order.

Yet, a few days later, Trump was at it again on Truth Social. “Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately,” the former president wrote—and he didn’t stop there. “His Daughter, Loren, Is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me.” Trump goes on to say that Merchan’s daughter worked for President Joe Biden and other Democrats. (Loren is a political consultant, and her firm has worked on Democratic campaigns, including Biden’s.)

The DA immediately flagged Trump’s posts in a letter to Merchan, asking the judge to clarify or confirm whether his gag order extends to himself, Bragg, and their respective family members. He also encouraged Merchan to demand that Trump “immediately desist from attacks on family members.” However, Trump’s attorneys pushed back, arguing that Merchan cannot direct Trump to do something the gag order doesn’t cover.

Merchan is expected to weigh in soon, with jury selection scheduled to begin April 15.

While Trump’s attorneys officially filed their appeal over Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to keep Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on her election interference case, a pretrial hearing was underway to consider if the indictment should be dismissed under First Amendment grounds.

Trump’s attorney argued that everything the former president said in the aftermath of the 2020 election was protected political speech, regardless of whether it was factually true, and that therefore the case against the former president is nonexistent. Prosecutors for Willis argued that that isn’t how the law works and that Trump’s statements don’t fall under the First Amendment because they hinged on criminal activity.

“What he is not allowed to do is employ his speech and his expression and his statements as part of a criminal conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO statute, to impersonate public officers, to file false documents, to make false statements to the government,” said Donald Wakeford, prosecutor for the DA.

The hearing also considered arguments for David Shafer, a co-defendant in Willis’ indictment and a former member of the Georgia Senate. As part of the fake electors scheme, Shafer signed a fake election certificate endorsing Trump, despite Biden winning the state of Georgia. Shafer’s attorney argued that his client believed he was complying with the Electoral Count Act and wasn’t a fake elector but a “contingent” one. Because technically it’s up to Congress to certify states’ electoral votes and there was an active legal challenge to Georgia’s 2020 election results, Shafer argues that he was representing a Trump elector in case the legal challenge was successful. (It wasn’t.)

Trump and Shafer are hoping to strike a chord with McAfee, who recently dismissed six charges (out of 41) from Willis’ indictment, though the judge made clear that the decision “does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed.”

A New York appeals court threw Trump a lifeline when it decided that his bond in Justice Arthur Engoron’s civil fraud ruling could be lowered from $454 million to $175 million. The court also gave the former president an extra 10 days to post bond, and this week that payment will come due. By Thursday, Trump must post an appeals bond worth $175 million or risk having his assets seized by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Under New York state law, defendants who are seeking an appeal—and want to stop authorities from collecting the fine they owe while the appeals process plays out—must post a bond worth the full value of the judgment. In Trump’s case, that was $454 million, the penalty levied by Engoron, who found that Trump committed fraud when he overinflated the value of his assets on financial documents. He also banned Trump from serving as an executive of any New York–based company for the next three years, and from taking out any loans from a New York financial institution.

The new $175 million bond should be an easier get. Trump told reporters last week that he could post that “very quickly within the 10 days.” It’s not yet clear if Trump has managed to secure a bond, but he does have an array of options to pull the money together.