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Local prosecutors in Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s hush money criminal case in New York have asked<\/a> the state judge overseeing the impending trial, scheduled to begin April 15, to clarify the terms of a gag order placed on Trump last week, after the former president repeatedly attacked the judge\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n Judge Juan Merchan<\/strong> instituted the gag order on Tuesday, citing Trump\u2019s \u201cthreatening, inflammatory, denigrating\u201d rhetoric and barring him from making interfering statements about witnesses, lawyers, and \u201cthe family members\u201d of any \u201ccounsel or staff member\u201d in the case. The order did carve out an exception for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg<\/strong>, who is leading the prosecution. It did not explicitly mention Merchan or his family as covered by the terms of the order.<\/p>\n A day later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Merchan\u2019s daughter, Loren Merchan<\/strong>, was using a photo of Trump behind bars as her social media profile, claiming<\/a> that the photo \u201cmakes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial.\u201d Merchan is a Democratic political consultant, and Trump wrote that she \u201crepresents Crooked Joe Biden<\/strong>, Kamala Harris<\/strong>, Adam<\/strong> \u201cShifty\u201d Schiff<\/strong>, and other Radical Liberals.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the New York State Court system quickly refuted<\/a> Trump\u2019s claim. A spokesperson said Wednesday that the account in question \u201cno longer belongs\u201d to Merchan\u2019s daughter, and that someone else had taken it over. (As of Saturday, it is still unclear who owns the account.) The profile photo was a \u201cmanipulation of an account [Merchan] long ago abandoned,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n In a letter filed on Thursday and made public on Friday, Bragg\u2019s office asked Merchan to clarify the order and to direct Trump to \u201cimmediately desist from attacks on family members.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe People believe that the March 26 Order is properly read to protect family members of the Court,\u201d wrote Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass<\/strong>. \u201cBut to avoid any doubt, this Court should now clarify or confirm that the Order protects family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order.\u201d Steinglass added that Trump should face \u201csanctions under judiciary law\u201d if he continues to \u201cdisregard\u201d court orders.<\/p>\n Lawyers for Trump shot back on Friday in a letter to Merchan. \u201cThe Court cannot \u2018direct\u2019 President Trump to do something that the gag order does not require,\u201d Todd Blanche<\/strong> and Susan Necheles<\/strong> wrote. \u201cTo \u2018clarify or confirm\u2019 the meaning of the gag order in the way the People suggest would be to expand it.\u201d<\/p>\n In the letter to Merchant, Steinglass claimed that \u201cmultiple potential witnesses\u201d have come forward to express concerns \u201cabout their own safety and that of their family members\u201d should they testify against Trump next month.<\/p>\n The former president\u2019s New York trial is expected to last approximately two months, and could be the only one of his four criminal trials to wrap up before the November election. The Republican presumptive nominee<\/a> is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payment during the 2016 presidential race to Stormy Daniels<\/strong>, who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Trump years earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n