Trump’s Lawyers Against Pride Efforts to Limit Access to Evidence

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Donald J. Trump’s lawyers on Monday pushed back against efforts by the Manhattan district attorneys office to limit the former president’s ability to publicly discuss evidence in the criminal case against him.

The district attorney’s office last week asked the judge in the case to restrict Mr. Trump on some case material. The office asked that the former president be barred from reviewing the material without his lawyers present, and that prosecution evidence be more widely publicized on social media or through other channels.

In a court filing, Mr. Trumps lawyers called the prosecutors’ request excessive. They argued that any restrictions placed on Mr. Trump should also apply to prosecutors, and said barring the former president from discussing evidence would violate his First Amendment rights.

President Trump is the leading Republican candidate for president of the United States, the filing said. To be clear, there will continue to be significant public commentary about this case and his candidacy, to which he has the right and must respond, both for his own sake and for the benefit of the electorate.

Mr. Trump was charged with 34 felonies by district attorney Alvin L. Bragg, who accused the former president of trying to cover up a potential sex scandal during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a news conference after being arraigned Mr. Trump last month, argued Mr. Mr. Bragg repeatedly made. Trump made false statements to hide a $130,000 hush payment made on his behalf to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.

The lawyers of Mr. Trumps, Todd Blanche, Susan R. Necheles and Joseph Tacopina, said in the court filing that Mr. Bragg made statements at the news conference that would have violated the restrictions he sought if they had been applied to him. They said that before entering Mr. Bragg at the podium, they were nearing an agreement with prosecutors on the terms of an order that would limit former presidents’ access to evidence.

Prosecutors appear to believe New York law allows the district attorney’s office and its witnesses to speak freely and quote from grand jury evidence, but not President Trump or his counsel, the filing said. , targeting Ms. Daniels, as well as the former fixer who paid him, Michael D. Cohen.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment.

The lawyers of Mr. Trumps said they also discussed the document protection order in which prosecutors outlined their proposed restrictions on access to case material to the extent it prevents Mr. Trump to discuss prosecution evidence. And they disputed the prosecutors’ argument that Mr. Trump has a history of attacking law enforcement officials who have investigated him.

This history, according to People, justifies an extremely restrictive protective order that, if entered, would greatly hinder President Trump’s ability to publicly defend himself and prepare for trial, they wrote.

Ben Protess contributed reporting.

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