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Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit against the state of New York on Wednesday, claiming it violated the First Amendment right of Missouri’s citizens to hear from President Trump during the 2024 presidential election.
Bailey posted a statement to X alongside his lawsuit to explain the reason for the new legal action filed to the Supreme Court.
“I have filed suit against the State of New York for hijacking the presidential election by illegally scheming to jail their presidential opponent, President Trump,” he wrote.
“New York is waging war on American Democracy — and Missouri will not let it stand,” the Republican attorney general added.
Bailey’s lengthy online thread provided numerous ways that New York’s prosecution of Trump has restricted the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s 2024 campaign.
“New York’s illicit prosecution, gag order, and sentencing of President Trump has undermined his ability to campaign. This overt meddling in a presidential election sabotages Missourians’ ability to cast a well-informed vote mere months before the election,” he wrote.
The actions call for the court to remove all gag orders and stop sentencing until after the presidential election.
“I am asking the Supreme Court to declare that New York’s actions unlawfully interfere with the presidential election, to remove any gag orders against President Trump, and to halt the impending sentencing until after the presidential election,” Bailey continued.
Bailey concluded, “I will not sit idly by while Soros-backed prosecutors in New York hold Missouri voters hostage in this presidential election.”
The attorney general also called out the New York legal battle as “lawfare” against Trump designed to block his efforts at a comeback to the White House.
“This lawfare is poisonous to American democracy. The American people ought to be able to participate in a presidential election free from New York’s interference. Any gag order and sentence should be stayed until after the election,” Bailey wrote in the lawsuit.
The sentencing, originally scheduled for July 11, has already been delayed. Bailey’s effort hopes to push any sentencing until after the November election while also removing the current gag order against Trump.