Conservative lawyer George Conway said he expects former President Trump to violate the gag order imposed by the New York judge overseeing Trump’s hush money trial.
“At some point, I think, though, he can’t help himself,” Conway said of the former president Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “He’s going to end up violating the gag order, and that’s going to be an interesting, an interesting moment.”
Conway’s comments come after Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump — the presumptive GOP presidential nominee — earlier this week. It bars him from making public comments about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or their family members “if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with” the case.
The order followed relentless attacks from Trump on social media, including some targeted at Merchan’s daughter, Loren, who is a Democratic political consultant.
While the gag order does not preclude Trump from attacking Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), or their families, the judge said his decision to impose the order reflected the “nature and impact” of statements made against him, his “family member” and two prosecutors.
“He’s always going to find the one thing that he can do — if there’s a list of things that he cannot do and that he doesn’t think he can get away with — and he has no compunction about it,” Conway, a frequent Trump critic, said. “He has no conscience.”
The lawyer, who is in the final stages of a divorce from ex-Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, said he expects Trump to ultimately be too tempted to push the limit, which could lead to a gag order violation.
“I mean, he’s arguably already violated some other gag orders, but we’re gonna see him pushing the envelope as much as possible, particularly when he actually gets into that courtroom on April 15 and has to sit there and listen to all the evidence against them and listen to the arguments against them,” Conway said.
Merchan’s gag order is the third Trump has faced in recent months, following orders limiting his speech issued in his New York civil fraud case and his federal criminal case linked to efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.
Trump faces 34 counts in New York alleging he illegally falsified business records when reimbursing his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for a response.