Donald Trump isn’t too happy that Judge Juan Merchan rejected his legal team’s efforts to further delay his hush-money trial in New York. Merchan instead scheduled the trial to begin April 15, prompting the former president to attack him mercilessly in a post-hearing press conference on Monday. The next day, Trump went after Merchan’s daughter, calling her a “Super Liberal Democrat” in an effort to demonstrate that her father is biased against him.
Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump a few hours later, although it only applies to witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and jurors. Trump was also gagged during his civil fraud trial in New York, and is now trying to appeal a $355 million judgement Judge Arthur Engoron handed down last month.
Trump responded to the latest gag order on Wednesday, taking full advantage of the fact that it does not prohibit him from going after Merchan … or his family. He wrote on Truth Social that Merchan is “suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and that the gag order is “illegal,” “un-American,” and “unConstitutional.” He again invoked Merchan’s daughter, writing that she “represents Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and other Radical Liberals” and “has just posted a picture of me behind bars, her obvious goal.”
“Maybe the Judge is such a hater because his daughter makes money by working to ‘Get Trump,’ and when he rules against me over and over again, he is making her company, and her, richer and richer,” he wrote in another post. “How can this be allowed?”
Trump is currently facing four felony indictments — two from the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified material after leaving office, one in Georgia for his effort to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, and one in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to a payment ahead of the 2016 election to keep porn star Stormy Daniels quiet about an alleged affair.
It’s looking like the case in New York is the only one that will go to trial before the 2024 election. It’s also looking like Trump will stop at nothing to paint everyone involved as part of a vast Democratic conspiracy to keep him from retaking the White House — including targeting their families.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
