Ex-President Trump criticized the New York judge overseeing his hush money criminal trial on Tuesday, following a gag order in the case, arguing that it's unfair when others can talk about him.
“I just found out that another corrupt New York Judge, Juan Merchan, RESTRICTED me from talking about the corruption and conflicts in his courtroom regarding a case that everyone, including the D.A., felt should never have happened,” Trump wrote on Tuesday. in a post on Truth Social. “They can talk about me, but I can’t talk about them???”
“That sounds fair, doesn’t it? This Judge should be removed, and the case should be dismissed,” he added. “There has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one. ELECTION INTERFERENCE at its worst!”
Justice Juan Merchan issued a ruling Monday night to expand the former president’s gag order to limit his attacks against Merchan’s daughter, Loren, who is a Democratic political consultant.
“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Merchan wrote in his ruling. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for Defendant’s vitriol.”
The initial gag order in the case limited Trump’s public remarks about jurors, witnesses and “family members of any counsel or staff member,” but did not extend to family members of Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).
Merchan’s new gag order will include his and Bragg’s family members, at the request of the district attorney.
Loren Merchan was an executive at progressive political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns, which worked on campaigns for various Democrat leaders including Vice President Harris, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and President Biden — Trump’s main 2024 opponent.
In a social media post last week, the former president reacted to an account on X, formerly Twitter, that initially appeared to belong to the judge’s daughter and had a photo illustration of an imprisoned Trump as its profile picture.
The New York state Office of Court Administration (OCA) said last week the account was no longer associated with the judge’s daughter, adding that she deleted the account about a year ago.
Trump’s legal team previously called for the judge to recuse himself from the case due to his daughters’ work, but Merchan rejected the request after seeking guidance from the state’s judicial ethics advisory committee.
His lawyers signaled Monday that they would file a new motion seeking the judge’s recusal.
Trump faces 34 counts in the hush money case, with the trial set to begin April 15. The charges accuse the former president of illegally falsifying business records when reimbursing his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making a payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair ahead of the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The ex-president has also launched attacks against the judges and their relatives in his other legal cases. During his civil fraud trial, which concluded earlier this year with a $464 million judgment,
Trump accused the judge’s wife and son of either wanting to see him go to prison or benefiting financially from the proceeding. Former President Trump criticized the New York judge in charge of his hush money criminal trial on Tuesday, one day after receiving a gag order in the case. He argued that being subject to such an order is unfair when others are free to talk about him. He said, “I just received information that another corrupt New York Judge, Juan Merchan,…, Trump accused the judge’s wife and son of wanting to see the former president face prison time or were financially benefiting from the proceeding.
