The judge’s order will prevent Trump from revealing the names of jurors
A New York judge on Thursday effectively barred former President Donald J. Trump from revealing the identities of potential jurors during his first criminal trial later this month, stressing the need to protect those who could decide the highly sensitive case .
The judge presiding over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, granted a request from the Manhattan district attorney’s office to withhold the names of jurors from the public. The judge also ordered that their addresses be hidden from everyone except the lawyers in the case.
Trump’s legal team, which is defending the former president against charges of covering up a possible sex scandal during the 2016 election, agreed it was appropriate to keep the jury information private.
A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, declined to comment Thursday.
New York State does not allow juries to operate in complete anonymity, meaning defendants are allowed to know the names of the jurors. However, Judge Merchan sought to shield the names of the jurors in Trump’s trial from the broader public, underscoring the potential harm in a case involving a polarizing figure like the former president who could whip his supporters into a frenzy.
The restrictions and concerns about juror safety reflect the volatile environment surrounding Trump’s legal entanglements, including four criminal cases and several civil trials. After Mr. Trump recently lost a civil fraud case in New York brought by the state’s attorney general, envelopes containing white powder were sent to both the attorney general’s office and the judge who had overseen the case. The judge was also the victim of a hoax bomb threat on the day of closing arguments.
Jury selection in the criminal trial against Mr Trump is scheduled for March 25, making it the first prosecution of a former US president. He is accused of a series of crimes stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign — a payout that Trump allegedly concealed from voters.
For now, it is unclear what punishment Trump faces if he violates the order preventing him from revealing the identities of jurors. The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, had sought to revoke Trump’s access to jurors’ names if he endangered their safety, but the judge postponed ruling on that request.
Instead, Judge Merchan suggested he would address any potential penalties for Mr. Trump if he were to rule on another request from Mr. Bragg — that the former president be subject to a silence order.
If the judge approves, the order would bar Trump from “making statements or directing others” to make statements about witnesses about their role in the case. Mr. Bragg also asked that Mr. Trump not comment on the case to prosecutors, with the exception of Mr. Bragg himself, and to members of the court staff.
It would be just the latest gag order imposed on the former president. In Trump’s criminal case in Washington, which accuses him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, a judge has imposed such an order. And the judge in the civil fraud trial, Arthur F. Engoron, ordered Mr. Trump not to comment on court personnel.
Mr. Trump has railed against the justices, and his campaign has called Mr. Bragg’s request for a gag order “an unconstitutional infringement of President Trump’s First Amendment rights.”
Yet judges generally do their utmost to protect witnesses and especially jurors.
After a federal jury returned a verdict against Mr. Trump in a recent defamation trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered the jury not to reveal the identities of the other jurors and strongly encouraged them to remain anonymous forever . In the federal system, jurors are allowed to remain anonymous, even from parties to the case.
“My advice to you is that you never reveal that you were on this jury,” Judge Kaplan said. “And I won’t say more about it.”
William K. Rashbaum reporting contributed.