The New York judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump urged the parties to refrain from making public statements that could incite violence or unrest.
Trump, the first former US president to be indicted, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts in the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him. The city’s police department, the US Secret Service and other authorities remain on high alert given the political firestorm over the case.
Prosecutors raised Trump’s past incendiary rhetoric in seeking a court order that would prevent him from posting documents from the case on social media. Defense attorneys said it would be “patently unfair” to not allow their client to speak about his case, adding that disputed remarks by Trump leading up to Tuesday’s court appearance were the result of him being “frustrated, upset” by Bragg’s case.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan didn’t issue a ruling on the protective order request. But he told the lawyers to tell their clients to “please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest.”