Hush Money Trial: Trump Takes Gag Order Battle To New York's Highest Court After Appeal Setback

Donald Trump is taking his battle over a gag order against him to the next level by seeking intervention from New York's highest court.

His legal team filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday, following a decision by the state's mid-level appellate court to reject his request to intervene in his fight over the order.

Trump wants the gag order removed or modified. It has previously seen him fined $10,000 and threatened with jail for violating a ban on commenting about witnesses, jurors and others linked to his hush money criminal trial.

While the filing appeared on the court's docket, the actual document was sealed and inaccessible to the public.

Trump presidential campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the filing is a petition for the state's Court of Appeals to take up the matter.

"President Trump has filed a notice to appeal the unconstitutional and un-American gag order imposed by conflicted Judge Juan Merchan in the lawless Manhattan DA case," Cheung said.

"The threat to throw the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election in jail for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades."

The petition to the higher court was filed after a five-judge panel of the state's mid-level appeals court ruled that Trump's public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of witness testimony in his hush money trial.

The court upheld the gag order imposed by Justice Arthur Engoron, preventing Trump from making statements about witnesses, court staff, the judge's family, and prosecutors other than Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump had sought to have the gag order lifted or modified, but the court upheld its restrictions, including preventing him from discussing individuals like Michael Cohen, who is currently testifying in the trial.

The former president has toned down his comments in relation to the hush money trial following a contempt of court ruling by Judge Merchan.

Meanwhile, Trump's legal team is expected to resume their cross-examination of Cohen on Thursday as they seek to discredit the prosecution's key witness in the hush money trial.