Fox News host Howard Kurtz corrected a spokesperson for Donald Trump on Sunday about the terms of his gag order in his Manhattan “hush money” case.
Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, is currently under a gag order in his Manhattan criminal case, blocking him from making public statements about prosecutors, witnesses, or jurors, as well as their family members. The order was later expanded on Monday to apply to Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and their families. The original order was issued last month by Merchan after a flurry of social media posts the former president made attacked him and his daughter, Loren Merchan, the latter for her professional connections to prominent Democratic politicians.
In the wake of the order, Trump has continued to publicly attack Merchan and his daughter, claiming in a Saturday post to Truth Social that he would be willing to go to jail for making them.
“Now, we have Merchan, who is not allowing me to talk, thereby violating the Law and the Constitution, all at once. It is so bad what he is trying to get away with – How was he even chosen for this case??? I heard he fought like hell to get it, and all of the rest of them also! If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the ‘clink’ for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela – It will be my GREAT HONOR,” Trump wrote in a three-part post.
Maansi Srivastava/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
During a Sunday appearance on Fox News, Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for Trump’s 2024 campaign, was asked by Kurtz about the gag order, which she characterized as an attempt by Democratic political forces to silence him.
“The Democrats want President Trump confined to a courtroom…And that’s exactly why you see these gag orders coming down,” Leavitt claimed. “Not only are they prosecuting him, but they want to silence him. It’s a complete violation of his First Amendment rights.”
In turn, Kurtz corrected her statement with a note about the actual scope of the gag order and said, “He can still talk about the case, but I’m glad to have your response on that.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office via email for comment on Sunday afternoon.
In the hush money case brought by Bragg, Trump is charged with falsifying business records in an effort to unlawfully conceal “hush money” payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, in exchange for her not speaking out about an affair the two allegedly had in 2006. Trump has denied that the affair ever happened and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial for the case begins on Monday, April 15.
Last month, Kurtz issued another on-air correction, this time to remarks that Trump made in an interview with the host in which he claimed that Democrats supported abortions deep into the third trimester and “after the baby’s born.” He specifically cited misrepresented comments from former Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam about late-term abortions.
“On late-term abortions, former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam did say that in cases of severe deformity or non-viable fetus, the mother and doctors would decide what to do once the baby was born,” Kurtz said. “But later backed off, with a spokesperson saying he was not talking about killing babies, but extremely rare and tragic cases. A CDC survey says fewer than 1 percent of all abortions take place at or after seven months of pregnancy.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.