A prosecutor’s decision to unveil the witness list for Donald Trump’s secret trial shows that Trump’s attacks on social media are having consequences, a former federal prosecutor said.
Renato Mariotti, now a legal analyst, reacted to the prosecutor’s decision not to reveal the names of the first three witnesses to Trump’s lawyers. “I can’t blame them,” Judge Juan Merchan said Thursday, as Trump’s lawyers protested.
On X, formerly Twitter, Mariotti noted that Trump’s attacks on witnesses on social media “nonetheless have genuine consequences. “
“Usually, the prosecution *reveals* the witnesses they will call the next day. Judge Merchan exercising his discretion to penalize the habit that endangers witnesses will be a more effective tool than a $1,000 fine,” Mariotti wrote.
MSNBC reported that Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, asked who the U. S. Attorney’s Office planned to call as the first three witnesses. Attorney Joshua Steinglass declined due to Trump’s negative comments on social media about potential witnesses in the case.
Blanche promised that Trump would publish comments about the witnesses.
“I don’t think you can make that claim,” Merchan responded, according to a report via Raw Story.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in U. S. history to be tried in a felon case. He pleaded guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors are seeking to show that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or paid, two women — adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — not to reveal his alleged affairs with them.
As part of the “pattern of behavior” narrative to back up those claims, prosecutors allege that a payment was made to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to know Trump had a child with another woman.
Prosecutors say the National Enquirer’s publisher, American Media Inc. , bought the rights to the doorman’s story following an agreement between then-CEO David Pecker and Trump to monitor negative views of the then-presidential candidate. Trump has denied all allegations and says he is the target of a political witch hunt.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s lawyer for comment Thursday.
A gag order imposed through Merchan in March prohibits Trump from making public comments about prosecutors, witnesses or jurors in the case, or their families, in the high-profile case. In April, it was expanded to include a ban on Trump making statements about Merchan. circle of family members and that of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
On Wednesday, on his Truth Social social media platform, Trump posted a quote from Fox News commentator Jesse Watters, who said, “They’re catching undercover liberal activists lying to try Trump to serve on Trump’s jury. “
In response, speaking on the anti-Trump podcast MeidasTouch Legal AF, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a legal analyst and former Manhattan deputy chief prosecutor, said Trump “violated the gag order” by republishing what Watters said about jurors.
Agnifilo added, “I think to make a judgment about a jury is to pass it off the mark because you can’t say anything like that about a juror. It’s passing it around to intimidate a potential juror. “
Sean O’Driscoll is a court reporter and criminologist for Newsweek based in Ireland. Its purpose is to inform about U. S. legislation. He has covered human rights and extremism extensively. Sean joined Newsweek in 2023 and in the past has worked for The Guardian, The New York Times, BBC, Vice, and others in the Middle East. He specialized in human rights issues in the Persian Gulf and conducted a three-month investigation into labor rights abuses for the New York Times. In the past it was founded in New York City for 10 years. He is a graduate of Dublin City University and is a qualified lawyer in New York and an Irish notary.
You can reach Sean by emailing s. odriscoll@newsweek. com. Languages: English and French.