Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn on Monday criticized a judge for imposing a gag order on former President Donald Trump but not his previous attorney Michael Cohen, who is a key witness against him.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the former president’s hush money trial, imposed a gag order on Trump that recently got expanded, but has not imposed any on Cohen, who a federal judge in March declared probably “committed perjury” in previous testimony, according to CNN. It is likely infuriating to Trump that Cohen can speak freely while the former president is not permitted to talk about his previously convicted attorney without penalties, Urbahn said on Fox News. (RELATED: Republican Reps File Criminal Complaint Against Michael Cohen For Comments He Made Under Oath)
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“And yet no gag order when it comes to Michael Cohen but one for Donald Trump,” Urbahn told host Harris Faulkner. “And the reason that’s especially important in this situation is because Michael Cohen can go on TV, he can do media interviews. He can say whatever he wants without consequence because he’s not under penalty of perjury, something he would well know having been convicted of that before.”
The charges against Trump originate from an alleged $130,000 payment that Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to giving false statements and tax evasion among other charges, sent to porn star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet regarding an alleged affair with the former president.
“As we speak, prosecutors are currently trying to get the judge to hold Trump in contempt for violating his gag order,” she added. “That gag order is … applicable to the witnesses. He can talk about the judge and he can talk about Bragg, but not the witnesses. But to your point, Harris, when the star witness … the entire case hinging upon this one person is a known liar. That makes it frustrating for a defendant not to be able to talk about.”
Cohen in March disclosed he gave his then-lawyer fake legal cases that he used in court records from Google’s artificial intelligence tool, resulting in further condemnation of alleged dishonesty by the judge.
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