The Manhattan district attorney’s office has asked Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to bar Donald Trump from using evidence from his criminal case to attack witnesses.
They stated that Trump has a history of making “harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements” about people with whom he has had legal disputes.
The prosecutors filed court papers on Monday, asking for a protective order that would impose strict guardrails on Trump’s access to and use of evidence shared by prosecutors before the trial.
Courts routinely use discovery in criminal cases to ensure a fair trial.
The prosecutors want to prevent Donald Trump from posting evidence on social media or providing it to third parties.
They also want to limit how he views certain sensitive material, asking that he do so only in the presence of his lawyers, and not be able to copy, photograph or transcribe those records.
Trump “has a longstanding and perhaps singular history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, trial jurors, grand jurors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him,” Assistant District Attorney Catherine McCaw wrote.
That behavior, she said, has put “those individuals and their families at considerable safety risk.”
Merchan did not immediately rule on the prosecution’s request. Meanwhile McCaw, in her filing, asked him to schedule a hearing on the matter next week.
Email messages
Email messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s lawyers.
Prosecutors first raised concerns about Trump potentially weaponizing the discovery process at his April 4 arraignment on charges that he falsified records at his company as part of a broader 2016 scheme to make secret hush-money payments to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.
However , Trump has denied wrongdoing — or having extramarital affairs — and pleaded not guilty.
With Trump seated at the defense table just feet away from her, McCaw informed Merchan that they needed a protective order to “maintain the integrity of the proceedings as well as the confidentiality of the discovery materials.”
At the time, McCaw said prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers were close to a joint agreement with many of the restrictions prosecutors are now asking Merchan to impose. Negotiations later broke down, leading prosecutors to seek the judge’s intervention.