Trump targets two likely witnesses ahead of his criminal trial, despite gag order

Donald
Trump
on
Saturday
took
aim
at
two
likely
witnesses
in
his
upcoming

New
York
hush
money
trial,
testing
the
boundaries
of
a

gag
order
that
prohibits
such
public
statements.

“Has
Mark
POMERANTZ
been
prosecuted
for
his
terrible
acts
in
and
out
of
the
D.A.’s
Office.
Has
disgraced
attorney
and
felon
Michael
Cohen
been
prosecuted
for
LYING?”
the
former
president
posted
on

Truth
Social.

The
social
media
post
is
the
latest
challenge
to
the
limits
of
a
gag
order
that
forbids
Trump
from
making
public
statements
about
likely
witnesses
and
jurors.

Cohen
previously
worked
as
Trump’s
personal
lawyer
and
is
likely
to
be
a
key
witness
in
the
trial.
In
2018,
he
pleaded
guilty
to
charges
related
to
hush
money
payments
to
two
women
in
2016,
which
he
said
were
made “at
the
direction”
of
an
unnamed

2016
presidential
candidate.
He
is
expected
to
name
Trump
at
the
upcoming
trial.

Pomerantz
is
a
former
prosecutor
who
once
led
the
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Office’s
investigation
into
Trump’s
hush
money
payments
before
he
resigned
from
the
case
in
2022.

The
trial
is
scheduled
to
kick
off
jury
selection
on
Monday,
where
Trump
will
face
34
counts
related
to
falsifying
business
records,
allegedly
to
hide
a
$130,000
hush
money
payment
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
in
2016.
That
start
date
was
delayed
from

March
25
to
give
Trump’s
legal
team
time
to
review
new
documents.

On
March
26,
New
York
State
Supreme
Court
Judge
Juan
Merchan,
who
is
presiding
over
the
case,
imposed
the
initial
gag
order,
which
he
later
expanded
after
Trump
continuously
went
after
Merchan’s
daughter
for
her
work
with
a
Democratic
political
consulting
firm.

In
the
weeks
since,
Trump
has
repeatedly
gambled
on
the
limits
of
the
gag
order.

In
a

Truth
Social
post
on
Wednesday,
Trump
attacked
Cohen
and
Daniels,
another
likely
witness,
calling
them “two
sleaze
bags.”

Trump
has
previously
said
it
would
be
a “great
honor”
to
go
to
jail
for
gag
order
violations
and
likened
himself
to
a
“Modern
Day
Nelson
Mandela,”
the
former
president
of
South
Africa
who
spent
decades
in
prison
for
opposing
apartheid.

It
would
not
be
the
first
time
Trump
has
faced
consequences
for
disobeying
a
gag
order.
In
a
separate
trial
in
October,
Judge
Arthur
Engoron
fined
Trump
$10,000
for
gag
order
violations.