Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe believes that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's call for a broader request for silence in the hush money case against former President Trump is diverting attention from the actual case.
McCabe explained during an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that DA Bragg's request for clarification on gag orders demonstrates how these orders cause more distraction than actually limiting Donald Trump's speech.
According to McCabe, every time a gag order is imposed, Trump's team takes advantage of it to file appeals, request clarification, and make overheated statements, diverting the prosecution team away from focusing on the case and building the strongest case possible.
McCabe argued that these processes divert the prosecution team from concentrating on the case and constructing the best possible case.
McCabe expressed skepticism about the value of these gag orders, stating that he's not convinced that they're worth the effort that goes into them.
His comments were made shortly before Justice Juan Merchan's ruling. He issued a ruling. Monday night, expanding the former president's gag order in his hush money case.
Trump is accused of illegally falsifying business records in a case involving reimbursing his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty, and the trial is set to begin on April 15.
The expanded gag order aims to restrict Trump's criticisms. against Merchan's daughter, Loren, a Democratic political consultant. The original gag order limited the former president's public comments about jurors, witnesses, and family members of any counsel or staff member, but did not include family members of Merchan or Bragg.
The initial gag order. in the case limited the former president's public remarks about jurors, witnesses, and “family members of any counsel or staff member,” but did not extend to family members of Merchan or Bragg.
Loren Merchan previously worked at Authentic Campaigns, a progressive political consulting firm that worked on campaigns for high-profile Democrats, including Vice President Harris, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and President Biden.
Last week, the former president criticized an account on X, formerly Twitter, which initially seemed to belong to the judge's daughter and had a profile picture of an imprisoned Trump.
The New York state Office of Court Administration (OCA) later validated the account was no longer associated with Loren and said she deleted the account about a year ago. the judges daughter account was no longer associated with Loren and had been deleted about a year ago.
Trump's legal team previously asked the judge to step down from the case due to his daughters' work, but Merchan turned down the request after seeking advice from the state's judicial ethics advisory committee.
Merchan's attorneys indicated on Monday that they would file a new motion seeking the judge's recusal.
The former president also criticized slammed the expanded gag order on Tuesday, reiterating his demand for the judge to recuse himself from the case.
“They can talk about me, but I can’t talk about them???” he wrote in-part on Truth Social. “That sounds fair, doesn’t it? This Judge should be recused, and the case should be thrown out. There has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one. ELECTION INTERFERENCE at its worst!”
Trump has a past of going after the judges who preside over his different legal matters, as well as the judge’s children and spouses.
A gag order was also issued in his civil fraud case last autumn which prevented Trump and his lawyers from publicly discussing or criticizing the trial judge’s court staff.
