Judge rejects Trump request to change gag order so he can answer Stormy Daniels

New York Judge Juan Merchan denied former President Donald Trump's request on Thursday to change his gag order so that he can discuss former porn star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels testified in Trump's alleged hush money trial on Tuesday and Thursday, but a gag order prevents Trump from responding to Daniels' testimony. Trump is not allowed to attack the witnesses in the trial, or the jury, prosecutors, court staff, and Merchan's family. Trump can speak out against Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche argued that the former president should be able to respond to Daniels's testimony, which he claims is different from what she has previously told news agencies.

“He needs an opportunity to respond to the American people, and the reason for the gag order are over. She is no longer a witness,” Blanche said, according to the Hill.

Merchan denied the request however, maintaining that Daniels should be protected from the former president's attacks.

“The reason why the gag order is in place to begin with is precisely because of the nature of these attacks – the vitriol," Merchan said in the rejection.

The request was also slammed by Bragg's team, who claimed Trump and his defense team were living in an "alternate reality" and that the order was designed to protect people who testify against the former commander-in-chief while the trial is going on.

Merchan also denied a second motion for a mistrial on Thursday, over Daniels' testimony, after the defense argued that much of Daniels' testimony on Thursday from prosecutors was not relevant to the case. Merchan agreed that certain parts of the testimony were not relevant to the case but that the defense did not object to the questions when they were happening.

"For the life of me, I don’t know why [defense attorney Susan] Necheles didn’t object," Merchan said, per Fox News.

Merchan also reminded Blanche that the defense argued the sexual encounter with Trump never occurred in the first place, so that opened the line of questioning that prosecutors engaged in on Thursday.

"Your denial puts the jury in a position to decide who to believe," Merchan said.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of criminally doctoring his financial records to hide a $130,000 hush payment that ultimately went to Daniels through his former lawyer Michael Cohen. He has denied the payments, and maintained that he has never had a sexual encounter with Daniels.

The former president has repeatedly slammed the gag order, claiming it violates his First Amendment rights.

“This judge has taken away my constitutional right to free speech. I am the only presidential candidate in history to be gagged. They don’t want me talking,” Trump said in a video posted to Truth Social on Thursday.

Trump has previously violated the gag order multiple times, and Merchan warned the former president that the next time he does so, he could face jail time.