Not only is the ongoing criminal “hush money” trial in Manhattan rooted in questionable charges against former President Donald Trump and scheduled in such a way to limit his ability to campaign for a second term ahead of November’s election, but Trump has also had his freedom to openly discuss details of the case due to a gag order imposed by the presiding judge.
President Trump calls his gag order "UNCONSTITUTIONAL!" pic.twitter.com/64lOXygTX1
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 24, 2024
A number of prominent conservative pundits have spoken out against various aspects of the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, particularly in light of the gag order. In a recent monologue, Fox News Channel personality Jesse Watters opined that Trump’s accusers “still haven’t named” a specific crime for which the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is being prosecuted.
“Trump’s free speech went on trial today,” he said in reference to the debate over the gag order. “Democrat prosecutors want the former president fined for talking — $1,000 a pop. Something tells me that won’t make it stop. Bragg’s begging the judge to gag the Republican nominee from talking about the prosecutor, complaining he did it right here in the hallway outside. Oh no!”
Denouncing the matter in the context of concerns that Trump will be unable to receive a fair trial in the far-left jurisdiction of Manhattan, Watters said the “unconstitutional” order means that even if brazen anti-Trump MSNBC host Rachel Maddow were serving on the jury, the former president “still wouldn’t be allowed to talk about it.”
In a related social media post Watters shared on Tuesday, he summed up the most recent trial developments.
“Trump’s gagged and there’s no cameras, so voters have to trust what the reporters in the room say,” he wrote. “The same reporters who pushed the Russia, laptop, and lab leak hoaxes. Biden’s fingerprints are all over this, as we learn Trump’s team is accusing the White House of not just being privy to the classified documents case against Trump — but being the driving force behind it.”
Trump himself has expressed a similar assessment of the gag order in his own public statements.
Speaking to reporters outside of the courtroom earlier this week, he declared: “We have a gag order, which to me is totally unconstitutional. I’m not allowed to talk, but people are allowed to talk about me. So they can talk about me. They can say whatever they want. They can lie, but I’m not allowed to say anything. I just have to sit back and look at why a conflicted judge has ordered me to have [a] gag order.”
