For a third time this week, Donald Trump went on an unhinged social media attack targeting the daughter of the judge in his upcoming hush money trial — this time calling her out by name.
“Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account Thursday, adding that his daughter “is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me.” Rolling Stone has withheld her name as she is not involved in the case.
Trump’s post refers to the limited gag order granted by Judge Merchan on Tuesday, which prevents Trump from mentioning any investigators, jurors or witnesses involved in the case, including star witness and former Trump ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen. However, Merchan and his family are not included in the order. The case, which stems from a grand jury indictment last year of 34 counts of falsifying business records, accuses Trump of covering up hush money payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg requested the gag order in February, similar to gag orders granted against Trump in his real estate fraud lawsuit and defamation trial by writer E. Jean Carroll. An affidavit submitted with the request documented dozens of threats received by those involved in the hush money case since the indictment was first made last September.
Trump’s rant about Merchan’s daughter continued, calling it a “witch hunt” motivated by bias.
“She works for Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, and other Radical Leftists who Campaign on “Getting Trump,” and fundraise off the “Biden Indictments”” the post read.
Merchan’s daughter has served as an executive at Authentic Campaigns, a digital advertising firm that works with Adam Schiff’s Senate campaign, and previously worked with President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Senate committee.
The hush money case is weeks away from beginning jury selection on April 15 and is one of four criminal proceedings against the former president currently underway. Due to the Supreme Court taking up Trump’s immunity request and delays affecting the Florida and Georgia cases, it appears likely to be the only one to begin trial before the general election in November.
