New York Court of Appeals Associate Justice David Friedman temporarily lifted the October 3 gag order New York State Judge Arthur Engoron imposed on former President Donald Trump and his attorneys. The gag order prevented Trump from speaking publicly about court staff during the ongoing New York civil fraud trial. Friedman found the gag order could be a violation of Trump’s right to free speech, writing, “Considering the constitutional and statutory rights at issue, an interim stay is granted.”
Trump’s attorneys wrote, “This constitutional protection is at its apogee where the speech in question is core political speech, made by the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination, regarding perceived partisanship and bias at a trial where he is subject to hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and the threatened prohibition of his lawful business activities in the state.”
Along with the appeal to lift the gag, Trump attorneys filed a motion for a mistrial, claiming that Engoron and his Law Clerk Allison Greenfield are biased against Trump.
