Donald Trump Hush Money Trial Judge Adjusts Gag Order to Allow Ex-Prez to Comment on Witnesses and Jurors

Donald Trump is now free to publicly comment on witnesses and jurors connected to his New York hush money trial.

Judge Juan Merchan made adjustments to the longstanding gag order on Tuesday, June 25, but clarified the embattled former POTUS is still barred from speaking about prosecutors and court staff.

"The trial portion of these proceedings ended when the verdict was rendered, and the jury discharged. Therefore, Paragraph (a) is terminated without opposition by the People," Judge Merchan's ruling read, referring to the portion concerning witnesses.

"Nonetheless, there is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors," he continued. "Therefore, the protections set forth in this Court’s Protective Order of March 7,2024, Regulating Disclosure of Juror Information will remain in effect until further order of this Court."

The judge added that while the witness testimony and jury verdict portions of the trial are over, the court proceedings have not concluded entirely. He chose to uphold Paragraph (b) of the initial order which concerns comments about District Attorney Alvin Bragg, his family, his staffers and other legal staff members.

"This matter has been set down for the imposition of sentence on July 11,2024," he said. "Until sentence is imposed, all individuals covered by Paragraph (b) must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and hate."

As OK! previously reported, Trump violated the terms of the gag order 10 times throughout the high-profile trial. He was fined $1,000 for each violation and Judge Merchan warned him that further misconduct could result in jail time.

The 78-year-old repeatedly slammed the judge and accused him of taking away his "constitutional right to free speech."

"Everybody is allowed to talk and lie about me, but I am not allowed to defend myself," he wrote via Truth Social earlier this year. "This is a kangaroo court and the judge should recuse himself!"

However, the threat of jail time was enough to get him to be more careful about what he said in interviews.

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On Friday, May 10, Trump stumbled over his words to avoid breaking the order while speaking with reporters outside of the New York courtroom.

"These are all stories that just came out; these are all stories that are 100% that this is a disgraceful trial," Trump told the crowd. "But that’s what I’m trying to— I’m trying to edit this very quickly in front of you, because if I mention the wrong word, they’ll come out here and they’ll take me out to the jail someplace, because that’s the way it is with this judge. He wants to show how tough he is."

Trump was later found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business documents. He is the first former U.S. president to ever be convicted of a crime.