Former US president Donald Trump on Tuesday decried the gag order issued on him by the federal judge overseeing his federal 2020 election subversion case, claiming she "took away my right to speak".
"We're being railroaded. And I have other trials where we're being railroaded. You saw yesterday where they took away my right to speak. I won't be able to speak like I'm speaking to you," Trump told reporters moments before he entered a New York courtroom to attend his ongoing civil fraud trial.
"I am leading Joe Biden and I'm being restricted. My speech has been taken away from me. I'm a candidate that's running for office and I'm not allowed to speak," Trump said, referring to the partial gag order issued on Monday by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
The former US President reiterated that his team plans to appeal the order.
The gag order restricts Trump's ability to publicly target court personnel, potential witnesses or special counsel Jack Smith and his staff.
The order does not impose restrictions on disparaging comments about Washington, DC – where the jury will take place – or certain comments about the Justice Department at large, both of which prosecutors requested.
"This is not about whether I like the language Mr. Trump uses," Chutkan said in court on Monday as she announced the order.
"This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice."
Trump had already been placed under a gag order by the New York state judge overseeing his fraud trial, who last month said that all parties in the case must not speak publicly about any members of the court staff, after the former president attacked the judge's clerk in a social media post.
"Personal attacks of any member of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them," Judge Arthur Engoron said last month when he issued his order.
Accountant testifies after key witness Michael Cohen postpones
Tuesday's proceedings in the New York civil fraud case threatens to disrupt his real estate empire, with Trump renewing his claims that the case is a baseless and politically targeted distraction from his 2024 campaign.
After attending the trial's first three days earlier this month, the Republican front-runner initially planned a return to coincide with testimony by Michael Cohen, his attorney turned foe. But Cohen's planned appearance on the witness stand was delayed until at least next week.
Instead, Trump sat in on testimony from one of his company's accountants, Donna Kidder.
New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit against Trump alleges that he and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and inflating his net worth in paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.
Trump denies any wrongdoing, says his assets were actually undervalued and maintains that disclaimers on his financial statements essentially told banks and other recipients to check the numbers out for themselves.
"We built a great company — a lot of cash, it's got a lot of great assets, some of the greatest real estate assets anywhere in the world," he said as he headed into court, dismissing the lawsuit as "a witch hunt by a radical lunatic attorney general" bent on dragging down his presidential run.
While he's attending the trial by choice, Trump complained it was taking him off the campaign trail.
The attorney general, a Democrat, started investigating Trump in 2019 after Cohen testified to Congress that the billionaire politician had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits. She didn't comment as she arrived Tuesday.
Cohen said on Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he isn't dodging Trump. In a text message, he said he has an "incredibly painful" medical condition but anticipates testifying as soon as the pain subsides.
"When I do testify, I am certain Donald will be in attendance, sitting with his lawyers at the defendant's table," Cohen wrote.
On Tuesday, Trump heard Kidder discuss his company's finances, including a mention of a prior tangle with New York state's lawyers: former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's 2013 lawsuit over the now-defunct Trump University real estate seminar program.
In explaining a spreadsheet, Kidder noted an entry about a loan that the Trump Organisation took out to pay a $US25 million ($39.2 million) settlement of lawsuits from Schneiderman and others alleging that Trump University defrauded students.
State lawyers on Tuesday are also expected to call Jack Weisselberg, the son of former longtime Trump Organisation finance chief Allen Weisselberg. The son arranged financing for Trump while an executive at Ladder Capital.
In a pretrial decision in the New York civil case last month, Engoron resolved the top claim, ruling that Trump and his company committed years of fraud by exaggerating the value of Trump's assets and net worth on his financial statements.
As punishment, Engoron ordered that a court-appointed receiver take control of some Trump companies, putting the future oversight of Trump Tower and other marquee properties in question. An appeals court has since blocked enforcement of that aspect of the ruling for now.
The trial concerns six remaining claims in the lawsuit, including allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records.
