Former Watergate Prosecutor Comments on ‘Unusual’ Trump Gag Order

(USNewsMag.com) – A former prosecutor who worked on the Watergate trial said that he finds the gag order against former President Donald Trump in New York to be “unusual.”

Nick Akerman, who once worked on the Watergate trial against former President Richard Nixon, recently appeared on CNN for an interview and told host Fredricka Whitfield that the recent gag order imposed on Trump in the hush money trial in New York is “so unusual.” Akerman said that it “never happens,” and that he’s never seen anything like it in over 50 years of practicing law, both as a prosecutor and defense attorney.

The prosecutor emphasized that the way the former president’s case has unfolded is unprecedented. Akerman also said that Trump’s attacks on the judge in his case could put him in “harm’s way,” because it’s the same judge who will hand Trump his sentence.

Judge Juan Merchan imposed the gag order on the former president on Tuesday, March 26th, which prevents Trump from publicly commenting on witnesses, court staff, or others related to the case, although he can still comment on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge. The gag order marked the third one against the former president over the last six months and came only a few weeks before the trial even began, which is scheduled to commence on April 15th.

Akerman said Trump is the “only one” he has “ever seen” test the boundaries in such a way, between free speech rights enshrined by the First Amendment and a secure judicial process. He said defendants simply “don’t do those sorts of things,” knowing the risk. Although Akerman called Trump’s methods “outrageous,” he said the former president is also forcing the courts to contend with the question of where the First Amendment stops and where a gag order is necessary to “protect the judicial system.”

Trump called the gag order “illegal, un-American,” and “unconstitutional.” He accused Merchan of trying to “deprive” him of his First Amendment rights that allow him to “speak out against” what he calls “the Weaponization of Law Enforcement.”