The judge's family is getting rich off Trump trials... and he's presiding over one. But Trump fires back after judge expands gag order: ‘This judge should be recused’ he lashed out against the New York judge overseeing his hush money criminal trial Tuesday, one day after he was hit with a gag order in the case, arguing such an order is not fair when others “can talk about” him.
“I just was informed that another corrupt New York Judge, Juan Merchan, GAGGED me so that I can not talk about the corruption and conflicts taking place in his courtroom with respect to a case that everyone, including the D.A., felt should never have been brought,” Trump wrote 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 recused, and the case should be thrown out,” he added. “There has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one. ELECTION INTERFERENCE at its worst!” Judge 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.
