(NationalUSNews.com) — Several legal experts believe that former President Donald Trump has violated the gag order against him due to the former president’s recent posts on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump shared multiple posts about the jury selection process on his Truth Social account, which could result in repercussions as Judge Juan Merchan has instituted a gag order on Trump, which limits the former president’s ability to speak about various aspects of his ongoing criminal case. Trump cannot publicly discuss the case’s prosecutors, jurors, witnesses, or anyone related to them.
Merchan instituted the gag order to limit the former president’s ability to discuss his ongoing criminal case but failed to include restrictions preventing Trump from talking about his family. Trump made national headlines after sharing multiple social media posts about Merchan and his daughter, Loren Merchan, prompting Judge Merchan to expand the gag order to include family members of the case’s judge and prosecutors. Trump ignored the gag order’s restrictions on comments relating to the case’s jurors and shared a post quoting Jesse Waters regarding the jury selection process.
The shared quote claimed that Trump’s legal team had found multiple people who lied about their political beliefs to get on Trump’s jury, likely to sway the criminal case against the former president. While Trump didn’t directly discuss the jury or the potential bias of potential jurors, Judge Merchan will likely enforce a punishment against Trump as he shared comments about the jury on social media, an indirect violation of the gag order.
Multiple legal experts have addressed Trump’s recent social media posts and agree that the former president has violated the gag order imposed by Merchan. Among the legal analysts who’ve addressed the gag order violation is Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who worked with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Agnifilo said she expects Merchan to become incredibly hostile towards Trump, as Trump’s social media posts could intimidate the jury and prevent an impartial trial. Agnifilo isn’t the only legal expert who believes Trump could face consequences for the posts, as another attorney from the Department of Defense claims that consequences will likely occur.
According to Ryan Goodman, who worked as special counsel in the Department of Defense, Trump made public statements about potential jurors by sharing Waters’ quote. Goodman claims that Trump’s decision to share the quotes directly violates Merchan’s gag order and would likely result in repercussions against the former president. Trump has allegedly violated his gag order on multiple occasions and will attend a hearing about his alleged gag order violations on April 23.
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