Appeals court upholds Donald Trump's gag order as he again presses judge to exit hush money case

NEW YORK -- Two months after his felony conviction, Donald Trump still isn’t allowed to say everything he wants about his historic hush money criminal case. After a New York appeals court upheld his gag order Thursday, he won’t be for a while.

The state’s mid-level appellate court denied the Republican former president and current nominee's latest bid to lift the restrictions, swatting away a last-minute argument that he's unfairly muzzled while Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely Democratic opponent, pits herself as an ex-prosecutor taking on a “convicted felon.”

At the same time, Trump's lawyers are again asking trial Judge Juan M. Merchan to exit the case, saying his daughter's work for Harris' 2020 presidential campaign underscores questions about his ability to be impartial.

Merchan rejected two prior recusal requests, last year and at the start of the trial in April, saying the defense’s concerns were “hypothetical” and based on “innuendos” and “unsupported speculation.”

In a letter to Merchan made public Thursday, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said Harris' entry into the presidential race makes those issues “even more concrete” and said the judge hasn't addressed them "at a level of detail sufficient to repair the lack of public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings."

Separately, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Loren Merchan demanding she turn over any documents pertaining to Harris' campaign, President Joe Biden's abandoned reelection campaign, and any discussions she or her firm may have had about Trump's hush money prosecution. Jordan's request Thursday includes any conversations she may have had with her father about the case.

A message seeking comment was left with Loren Merchan.

In its gag order ruling Thursday, a five-judge panel found that Judge Merchan was correct in keeping some restrictions in place until Trump is sentenced because the case is still pending and his conviction doesn't constitute a change in circumstances that warrants lifting it.

“The fair administration of justice necessarily includes sentencing,” they wrote.

The gag order bars Trump from speaking out about the prosecution team, court staffers or their families, including Merchan’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant.

In June, Merchan lifted a ban on Trump commenting about witnesses and jurors, and he has always been free to speak about the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat whose office prosecuted the case.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18, but the case and gag order could end before that if Merchan grants a defense request to throw out his conviction in light of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. Merchan said he plans to rule on Sept. 6.

Blanche and a Manhattan DA's office spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday’s ruling.

The appeals court ruled a day after Blanche tried filing papers asking it to immediately lift the gag order. With a decision imminent, the court rejected the filing, which called the restrictions an “unconstitutional, election-interfering” restraint on Trump's free speech while he seeks to retake the White House.

In a copy of the prospective filing provided to The Associated Press, Blanche wrote that Harris’ entering the race had given the matter new urgency and that it's “unconscionable that Harris can speak freely about this case, but President Trump cannot."

The defense also revived complaints that prosecutor Matthew Colangelo was biased because he was a Justice Department official under Biden. Trump is unable to air those grievances himself because of the gag order.

Trump’s lawyers have made several efforts to lift the gag order.

Their latest fight landed in the state’s intermediate appeals court — the Appellate Division, one rung up from Merchan’s trial court level — after they struck out with the state’s top court. The Court of Appeals last month declined to hear Trump’s gag order challenge, finding it did not raise “substantial” constitutional issues that would warrant immediate intervention.

Merchan imposed the gag order in March, restricting Trump from commenting about witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case, after prosecutors raised concerns about his habit of attacking people involved in his legal matters. The judge soon expanded it to prohibit comments about his own family after Trump lashed out on social media at the judge's daughter and made false claims about her.

During the trial, the judge held Trump in contempt of court and fined him $10,000 for violations, and he threatened to jail him if he did it again.

Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, was originally scheduled to be sentenced July 11. Merchan postponed it until September while he considers the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling, which gave broad protections to presidents and insulated them from prosecution for official acts.

The ruling also restricted prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in trying to prove a president’s unofficial actions violated the law.

Trump's lawyers argue his trial was “tainted” by evidence that shouldn’t have been allowed, pressing their case in a new court filing Thursday. Prosecutors contend the high court’s opinion “has no bearing” on the hush money case because it involves unofficial acts for which the former president is not immune.

A Manhattan jury convicted Trump on May 30 of falsifying records to cover up a potential sex scandal, making him the first ex-president convicted of a crime.

Trump’s conviction, on 34 felony counts, arose from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. She claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump. Prosecutors said Cohen disguised the reimbursements with Trump’s knowledge by submitting monthly invoices for retainer payments as his personal lawyer. Trump’s company logged the payments to Cohen as legal expenses.

Prosecutors said the Daniels payment was part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have gone public during the 2016 campaign with embarrassing stories alleging Trump had extramarital sex.

Trump has pledged to appeal his conviction, but he would not be able to do so until he is sentenced.