Trump turns to his allies to ramp up trial attacks: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, senior politics reporter Jonathan Allen looks at how Donald Trump, who is under a gag order, is leaning on his allies to launch attacks related to the hush money trial.

Plus, we examine why tomorrow's Democratic Senate primary in Maryland is carrying greater weight that usual. And senior political editor Mark Murray breaks down the latest polls showing a narrowing path to victory for Joe Biden.

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Trump is under a gag order, so his allies are launching his trial attacks for him

By Jonathan Allen

Donald Trump risks a trip to jail if he attacks witnesses in his New York hush money trial. But his allies aren’t covered by the gag order he has repeatedly violated — and they’re increasingly launching the broadsides that Trump can’t.

On Monday, as former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen testified that the former president was directly involved in a scheme to kill negative stories about him during the 2016 election, Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., ripped into Cohen.

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“He’s a convicted felon,” Tuberville said of Cohen at a news conference outside the courthouse. “I mean this guy is giving an acting scene.”

“Cohen can’t remember how old his son is or how old he was when he started to work for Trump but I’m sure he remembers extremely small details from years ago!” Vance, who is in contention to be picked as Trump’s running mate, wrote in a sarcasm-laden tweetstorm on X. “Michael