Donald Trump Lawyer May Have Committed 'Serious Ethical Violation'—Attorney

The judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial should query Trump's lawyer after he seemingly agreed a gag order prevented the former president from testifying, an attorney has said, claiming "a serious ethical violation" may have been committed.

Lawyer Todd Blanche stood beside Trump and nodded his head as Trump turned to him for advice while making his claim at a news conference.

And Attorney Ron Filipkowski, who is editor-in-chief of the liberal media site, Meidas Touch, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday that Merchant should query Blanche's advice to Trump. Filipkowski has long been an outspoken Trump critic and describes himself on social media as a "Republican Party insane asylum escapee."

Trump was addressing the media outside the courtroom on Thursday when he made his comments. It is unclear from video footage whether Blanche was agreeing that Trump couldn't testify or merely agreeing that Trump was under gag order.

Judge Juan Merchan later addressed Trump directly and told him that he had a right to testify, regardless of the gag order. The 5th amendment also allows defendants to stay silent during criminal proceedings.

"Since Todd Blanche nodded his head: 'yes' when Trump claimed that his right to testify has been taken away because of the gag order, Merchan must start the day tomorrow inquiring of Trump's understanding AND whether Blanche misadvised him on his 5th Amendment rights," Filipkowski wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

In another similar tweet, Filipkowski claimed that Blanche may have committed "a serious ethical violation."

Newsweek sought email comment from Blanche and from Trump's attorney, Chris Kise, on Friday.

Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, contested Filipowski's interpretation of the law.

"It's not clear to me what Blanche said in the video, but, even if he took the microphone and knowingly and falsely claimed that the gag order prevented Trump from testifying, Blanche would not be subject to sanctions," Germain told Newsweek.

He said Blanche would have had to have made his comments to the judge to be sanctioned.

"Lawyers can be sanctioned for knowingly making frivolous arguments to the court, they can't be sanctioned for making frivolous legal claims in public. Trump was trying to be clever by claiming that the gag order, which prevents him from making public comments about witnesses, would effectively bar him from testifying in court."

"That claim is, of course, not true, as the judge clarified. But, fortunately for politicians and pundits, making false statements during a political campaign is free speech and not illegal. Pointing out the truth is the job of our free press, and voting for honest candidates is the job of the electorate," Germain said.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has continually said that this case and other criminal and civil matters involving him are politically motivated.

The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, two women—adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—to not disclose his alleged affairs with them. He denies affairs with either woman.

On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for nine violations of a gag order that he imposed on Trump to stop him talking about witnesses and jurors in the trial.

On Thursday, prosecutors cited another four alleged violations.

Merchan did not immediately rule on the prosecutors' request for more penalties but he warned Trump that he may take further action against him. He then refused to tell Trump's lawyers if Trump could forward on other people's negative comments about the trial in his social media website, Truth Social.

Merchan told Trump's lawyers: "I'm not going to be in the position of looking at posts and determining in advance whether you should or should not post … I think if in doubt, steer clear. That's all I'm going to say."