Manhattan prosecutors keep Trump trial witness list secret so ex-president can’t lash out on Truth Social

Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial have refused to hand over a list of witnesses in the case in a bid to save them from Truth Social attacks by the former president.

Mr Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film starStormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her silence over an alleged affair back in 2006.

On Thursday 18 April – before the first witness, David Pecker, took the stand on Monday – Mr Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles asked for the name of at least one witness that prosecutors intended on introducing the following week.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass explained that his office would normally hand over such information to the defence, but that they were reluctant to do so in this high-profile case because of Mr Trump’s penchant for lashing out online at witnesses and others involved in the case.

“Mr Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses,” he said. “We’re not telling him who the witnesses are.”

After the defence voiced some disappointment, Judge Merchan responded: “I can’t fault them for that.”

“Whether you get the name or not, you’re not going to delay the trial. You won’t,” he added said, promising that he wouldn’t order the prosecution to turn over the list.

Prosecutors did, however, agree to provide the name of a witness the day before that person is likely to testify. But this promise came with a caveat: if the former president publicly discusses that person, prosecutors wouldn’t continue to share the witnesses ahead of time.

Even without the witness list, Mr Trump has already publicly disparaged his former “fixer” Michael Cohen and Ms Daniels, both of whom are considered likely, if not star,