Trump loses bid to lift New York gag order in response to Harris’ campaigning

Former President Donald Trump is still partly barred from speaking about his New York criminal trial after an appeals court decision denied his attempt to lift the gag order.

On Thursday, a New York appeals panel decided to uphold the remainder of the gag order, which bars Trump from speaking about prosecutors, court staff or their families. Trump’s lawyers had requested the gag order be lifted this time in order to campaign against Vice President Harris.

In the decision this week, the state’s appeals court said that since the criminal process is ongoing, the narrow gag order should still remain in place and that “threats received by District Attorney staff after the jury verdict continued to pose a significant and imminent threat.”

Trump has frequently sought to use the various judicial proceedings against him as a way to marshal donations and support from his followers in his campaign for president.

In a letter, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said Harris has been campaigning as a “prosecutor vs. convicted felon” and that the gag order prohibits him from responding to the attack. In May, Trump became the first sitting or former U.S. president to be convicted on felony charges.

A jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential run.

At the start of the trial, New York Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order that barred Trump from speaking about witnesses, jurors, or court staff and prosecutors and their families. The gag order did not prohibit Trump from speaking about Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump fought the gag order for months. Throughout the trial, he was fined several times —