Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to make a virtual appearance in New York criminal court Tuesday for the first time since pleading not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Trump will appear before Judge Juan Merchan in the afternoon to hear the terms of a protective order that prohibits him from publicly disclosing evidence, which the Manhattan district attorney’s office will turn over to his lawyers in the secret payments case.
Prosecutors argued that the move was necessary to prevent Trump from divulging confidential information in the case, and later claimed that he was unfamiliar with the terms of the order.
«If the defendant violates the terms of any court-issued protective order, the people may seek to enforce its terms by initiating second-degree criminal contempt proceedings,» the prosecutor’s office said in a court filing last month, and in «advancing said prosecution, the People will be required to demonstrate that the Defendant had knowledge of the content of the order.»
Trump’s lawyers argued in court documents that the protective order was «extremely restrictive» and that what prosecutors were proposing «would be an unprecedented and extraordinarily broad gag for a leading candidate for President of the United States.»
But Merchan ruled largely in favor of the district attorney on the issue earlier this month. His order held that anyone with access to evidence provided to Trump’s team by state prosecutors «shall not copy, disseminate, or disclose» the material to third parties, including social media platforms, «without prior court approval.» .
Merchan’s order also singled out Trump, saying he is allowed to review confidential «Limited Release Materials» only in the presence of his attorneys and «will not be permitted to copy, photograph, transcribe, or independently possess the Limited Release Materials.» .
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued that the order was necessary in part because of Trump’s repeated public criticism of two of the witnesses in his case, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and the star of stormy daniels adult film
NBC News has reached out to Trump’s lawyers and a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office for comment on Tuesday’s hearing.
Trump has been accused of falsifying business records related to secret payments to Daniels and another woman toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign to prevent them from speaking out about their allegations of affairs with him. He pleaded not guilty and said he did not have an extramarital affair with either woman.
Cohen pleaded guilty to charges related to the payments and other criminal charges in 2018 and was sentenced to three years in prison. He has been outspoken about his cooperation with the prosecutor’s office.
The case is expected to go to trial next year.
In a court filing last week, the prosecutor’s office rejected a request by Trump’s team for more information about some of the legal theory behind his case.
Trump’s lawyers had requested information, known as a list of details, in an attempt to get more information about the evidence against him, including the legal justification for charging the falsified records as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.
Under New York law, to elevate the charge to a felony, the defendant must have created the false records with the intent to commit or conceal “another crime.”
Prosecutors said they have already provided and will continue to provide more evidence than is legally required of them, saying Trump’s lawyers are not entitled to more. «The prosecution does not need to identify any particular crime that the defendant intended to commit or conceal, and the defendant is not entitled to such information in a list of details,» they added.
Trump has complained that the criminal case brought by the Democratic district attorney is part of a partisan «witch hunt» against him, saying that Merchan, a Manhattan-based state criminal court judge, «hates me.» «.
Trump’s lawyers filed documents earlier this month to have the case transferred to federal court. That request is pending.