On Monday, the New York state court judge overseeing the hush-money case which led to former President Donald Trump facing criminal charges issued a protective order which would restrict Trump’s social media usage.
Judge Juan Merchan sided with Manhattan prosecutors in an order to note that all the material given to Trump’s defense team is provided with the sole purpose of being used for their client’s defense. According to NBC News, it was also reported that the order stated that anyone who had access to the material shared with Trump’s team would not be allowed to “copy, disseminate or disclose” the material.
Trump is currently facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to his role in the hush money payment given to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence over their alleged affair before the 2016 presidential election.
Last month NBC News reported that prosecutors had requested that Merchan limit the evidence that Trump would be able to publicly use in the probe in an effort to safeguard the material’s integrity. However, Trump’s legal team had argued that this would be an infringement on the former President’s First Amendment rights.
The order by Merchan does allow Trump to view some of the sensitive information but only if his lawyers are also present. It adds that Trump cannot in any way “copy, photograph, transcribe” or in any other way come to possess the material.
