Trump loses appeal over gag order in hush money criminal case

A New York state appeals court on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's challenge to a gag order in his hush money criminal case, where the former U.S. president was convicted in May on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.

The decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan means the Republican presidential nominee cannot comment publicly about individual prosecutors and others in the case until Justice Juan Merchan sentences him on September 18, seven weeks before the November 5 election.

Trump's lawyers have argued that the gag order violated Trump's constitutional free speech rights under the First Amendment.

"The gag order is blatantly un-American," Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump's campaign, said in a statement.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed Trump locked in a tight race with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is poised to become the Democratic nominee.

Harris led Trump by 43 percent to 42 percent among registered voters, within the margin of error.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump's lawyers renewed their demand that Merchan recuse himself, citing his daughter's work as a Democratic political consultant and her "long-standing" relationship with Harris.

They also said the "unjust and unconstitutional" gag order restricts Trump's ability to respond to Harris, saying she framed her candidacy as that of "prosecutor vs convicted felon." Harris served as California's attorney general earlier in her career.

Merchan rejected a similar recusal request by Trump before the trial began, and another recusal request last year.

The judge imposed the gag order a few weeks before the trial began on April 22, saying Trump's history of making threatening statements could undermine the proceedings.

Merchan's original order prevented Trump from commenting on prosecutors, court staff, witnesses and jurors. A separate order against naming the anonymous jurors remains in effect.

Merchan lifted the restrictions on witnesses and jurors following Trump's May 30 conviction.

The Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court, said threats that Bragg's staff received in the wake of the verdict continue to pose a "significant and immediate" threat.

"Justice Merchan did not act in excess of jurisdiction by maintaining the narrowly tailored protections," the five-judge panel said.

The appeals court upheld Merchan's original gag order in May, citing the need to protect people from "threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm," and rejecting Trump's First Amendment argument.

The order leaves Trump free to speak about Bragg and Merchan.

Jurors found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, for covering up former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The payment was made in exchange for Daniels' silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump a decade earlier, which Trump denied. Trump won the presidency by defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The criminal trial was the first of any U.S. president.

Trump faces up to four years in prison, and can also be fined.

Time behind bars is rare for people convicted in New York for falsifying business records, especially those like Trump with no prior criminal histories.

Trump has vowed to appeal his conviction after he is sentenced.