Criminal Trial: Trump makes special demands from judge before entering court

Former President Trump has demanded that the judge in his hush money payments case remove a gag order that prevents him from speaking publicly about witnesses in the trial.

Trump said his constitutional rights were being stripped away by the judge and that he could not respond to “lies” told about him in the press during his trial.

“I am not allowed to speak,” Trump said in brief remarks before he entered the Manhattan courthouse on Friday.

“The gag order has to come off. People are allowed to speak about me, and I have a gag order just to show you how much more unfair it is. And the conflict has to end with the judge. The judge has a conflict. The worst I’ve ever seen,” Trump said.

Fox News reports that Judge Juan Merchan had last month imposed a gag order on Trump, due to his “prior extrajudicial statements,” saying they established “a sufficient risk to the administration of justice.”

Merchan ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses concerning their potential participation or about counsel in the case.

The judge also ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about any prospective juror or chosen juror.