Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on the judge in his New York hush money case will be ignored to avoid delays to his trial, a former federal prosecutor has suggested.
Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, said that New York state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan will “suck it up… ignore Trump as much as possible and take one for the rule of law.”
Merchan imposed a partial gag order on the former president on Tuesday, limiting what he can say publicly about individuals related to the trial involving financial transactions from his 2016 presidential campaign. It is one of several gag orders that Trump has faced across his multiple legal cases.
However, the gag order did not name the judge himself or his family members, and Trump has exploited the loophole numerous times on social media this week.
Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in New York after a pre-trial hearing in his hush money case earlier this week. Trump has said that Judge Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, is “totally…
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately. Hi daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me.
“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’ – including this Witch Hunt, which her father ‘presides’ over, a TOTAL Conflict – and attacking Biden’s Political Opponent through the courts. Former D.A Cy Vance refused to bring this case, as did all Federal Agencies, including ‘Elections.'”
Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren, is a political consultant whose firm has worked on campaigns for Democrats such as President Joe Biden.
Despite Trump’s attacks, Vance believes that Merchan will not implement an even more restrictive gag order covering himself and his family to ensure that the trial starts as planned on April 15.
“Any steps he might take to put an end to Trump’s behavior could prevent the case from going to trial on April 15 if Trump, as he almost certainly would, appealed,” Vance wrote on her Civil Discourse blog on Friday.
“A restrictive gag order could provide an issue on appeal for Trump if there’s a conviction. So, as difficult as it is to watch, you can understand why the Judge will make every effort to tolerate Trump’s behavior as it applies to himself unless he crosses the line into outright criminality.”
Donald Trump/Truth Social
In Trump’s separate criminal case over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a gag order on the former president last year to restrict his ability to criticize witnesses, prosecutors and court staff. Trump appealed the order, but it was upheld twice by a federal appeals court in December and again in January.
Meanwhile, Trump was fined $15,000 by another judge last year for twice violating a gag order against publicly commenting about court staff during his civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
On Tuesday, Merchan granted a request for the gag order by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump in the hush money trial. “His statements were threatening, inflammatory, denigrating,” Merchan wrote, referring to Trump’s previous attacks on witnesses, prosecutors and judges in his various legal cases.
The judge said: “Such inflammatory extrajudicial statements undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of this court.”
Donald Trump leaves a court in New York following a pre-trial hearing earlier this week. On Tuesday, Merchan granted a request for the gag order by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump…
Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images
In response, Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung described the gag order as unconstitutional. “American voters have a fundamental right to hear the uncensored voice of the leading candidate for the highest office in the land,” he said, according to Reuters.
Trump’s lawyers have previously warned that the gag order would leave him defenseless against attacks by political opponents over the case.
In the hush money trial, Trump is facing up to 34 felony charges. He is accused of falsifying business records to conceal reimbursements to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to the adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump denies having an encounter with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s representatives for comment outside of normal working hours.
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