JUST IN: DA Alvin Bragg Asks Judge to Extend Trump’s Gag Order Due to Death Threats

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg requested that a judge should extend former President Donald Trump’s gag order due to dozens of threats made against officials connected to the hush money case.

Back in April amidst his criminal trial, Judge Juan Merchan placed a gag order on the former president barring him attacking witnesses, jurors, and court staff involved in the trial, as well as Merchan’s relatives.

Last month, Trump was convicted on 34 criminal counts for fabricating business records to hide hush money payments to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. The money was paid by Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen in order to cover up a sexual affair between the pair nearly a decade prior in 2006.

Trump’s lawyers have sought to remove the gag order placed on Trump since the conviction but prosecutors have argued that although the gag order no longer needs to stay in place relating to trial witnesses, it should still be kept in place regarding jurors, prosecutors, court staff and their families, according to The New York Times.

Per the Times , the New York Police Department has found that 56 “actionable threats” have been made towards Bragg and his employees and family since the beginning of April. Bragg’s office cited this information when asking for Trump’s gag order to be extended on Friday.

An employee within Bragg’s office had their home address leaked and two people involved in the case faced bomb threats within the first day of the trial. Moreover, prosecutors noted that Bragg’s office has received hundreds of “threatening emails and phone calls” over the last few months.

Trump is scheduled to face sentencing on July 11th. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces up to four years in prison along with the possibility of probation or home confinement.