Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

A judge has intensified a gag order against Donald Trump in his criminal hush money case, prohibiting the former president from disparaging the judge’s family or the family of Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg.

The decision comes after Trump targeted the judge’s daughter in online posts, sparking concerns over the integrity of the judicial process. Trump’s campaign has criticized the order as a breach of constitutional rights, while the former president denies any wrongdoing related to the alleged hush money payments.

Justice Juan Merchan’s ruling aims to safeguard the judicial proceedings by extending the gag order to include the families of court staff and the prosecution. This move follows Trump’s public attack on Merchan’s daughter, who he labeled a “Rabid Trump Hater” on his Truth Social platform. He said, “Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately. His Daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me. She works for Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and other Radical Leftists who Campaign on ‘Getting Trump. TOTAL Conflict.”  Despite Trump’s allegations, officials have refuted his claims about Loren Merchan’s social media activity.

Al Baker, a spokesperson for the New York Office of Court Administration, said that the posts Trump cited as hers, which included a photo that showed him behind bars, came from an account not associated with her. He said, “The X, formerly Twitter, account being attributed to Judge Merchan’s daughter no longer belongs to her since she deleted it approximately a year ago. It is not linked to her email address, nor has she posted under that screenname since she deleted the account. Rather, i” represents the reconstitution, last April, and manipulation of an account she long ago abandoned.”

The implications of the gag order come amid ongoing tensions between Trump, his campaign, and the judiciary. In previous instances, Trump was fined and reprimanded for violating similar orders in other legal battles.