The judge overseeing the hush money trial of the former president in Manhattan issued an unprecedented gag order, which he then defied by criticizing the trial and the judge on social media.
The court held a hearing on the gag order after the District Attorney filed a motion to hold the former president in contempt for allegedly violating it three times.
The DA requested fines and potential imprisonment for future violations, with the gag order preventing the former president from publicly discussing certain individuals.
During the proceedings, the judge reprimanded the former president’s attorney for their handling of the gag order issue and debated whether social media posts on Truth Social constituted a violation.
“HIGHLY CONFLICTED, TO PUT IT MILDLY, JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN, HAS TAKEN AWAY MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH. EVERYBODY IS ALLOWED TO TALK AND LIE ABOUT ME, BUT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF,” he wrote in all caps.
He added later: “THIS IS A KANGAROO COURT, AND THE JUDGE SHOULD RECUSE HIMSELF!”
Judge Merchan could fine or jail Trump today for violating his gag order
Meanwhile Michael Cohen has been mouthing off throughout this entire trial
Total Witch Hunt
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) April 23, 2024
During the trial’s commencement on Monday, Trump referred to the criminal proceedings as the “Biden Trial,” linking them to the president and alleging election interference.
He also labeled the trial a “Communist Show Trial” during a speech in Pennsylvania last week.
A recent survey revealed that most respondents doubt Trump will receive fair treatment in his hush money trial in Manhattan. Only 4-in-10 participants believe Trump’s trial will be fair, with 51 percent expressing skepticism.
The historic trial began with opening statements accusing Trump of falsifying business records to silence an adult film actress before the 2016 election.
Rasmussen Reports asked voters about the likelihood of Trump receiving a fair trial in New York City, with only 42 percent expressing confidence, including just 27 percent who deemed it very likely.
Trump criticized his trial being held in New York City on Monday, focusing on allegations of directing hush money payments to Stormy Daniels through his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
“This is a Biden witch hunt to keep me off the campaign trail,” Trump said. “I should be in Georgia now. I should be in Florida now. I should be in a lot of different places right now, campaigning. And I’m sitting here. This will go on for a long time. It’s very unfair.”
“I did nothing wrong,” Trump repeated.
“They take this payment, and they call it a legal expense. You heard it today for the first time. This is what I got indicted over. This is what took me off and takes me on the campaign trail. Because I should be in Georgia and now. I should be in Florida now. I should be in a lot of different places right now, campaigning. And I’m sitting here. This will go on for a long time. It’s very unfair. The judge is conflicted, as you know. It’s very unfair what’s going on. I should be allowed to campaign,” Trump said.
“Whoever heard of this? To get indicted for that. People in the court said I can’t believe it. This is the case. We did nothing wrong. The other thing is, if this is such a great case, why didn’t the southern district bring it, who looked at it? Why didn’t numerous other agencies and law enforcement groups look at it? Because it was shown to everybody,” Trump added.
ICYMI: Federal Judge Denies Pause on Jan. 6 Lawsuits Against Trump Amid Criminal Case
3 Comments
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but Trump is the peoples “Pit Bull”, and the Trump, he bites. These democratic people what ever they are, will never get Trump off their back for all their lives. This guy has the most amazing will and personal power that is seems unnatural the way he can keep track and control. I don’t know about anyone else, but I personally believe these judges are the most unamerican people I have ever seen forcing him into two courts at once and denying him his right to trial in one or the other. I really think the system has to be reset to get rid of these nasty, nasty political “creatures” in our state and government offices. They should be at least smart enough to know when enough is enough, and “They Are Not.” Really lets establish laws setting up an enforcement branch of government to search and destroy by lengthy prison sentences all who tamper with the judicial systems in this country, and procedurally bar them ever entering a court room, unless they are in handcuffs. This is a huge waste of taxpayer funds, and they are intentionally creating havoc.
I agree with you 100% Garland and Wray should be the first ones in cuffs and infront of a judge and jury of Americans and for America
The real issue is that the COURT is being used by BIDEN to assure he does not have to campaign. Last election Biden set in a cellar encapsulated by people shielding him from anything public. Now Biden and the deep state are using the court system to assure that Trump can not campaign.
Meanwhile this case is NOT about falsifying election documents. Let’s break it down.
A woman used an attorney to commit legal extortion against Trump (if she has come to Trump herself with a money demand then she would have been arrested, only because she used an attorney was it “legal”.
Trump agreed on a settlement as he was a little too busy to care and the amount was negligible in the grand scheme of having been made President Elect. Trump’s attorney paid the extortion. Trump’s attorney then billed the expenses and legal fees and Trump Paid them. Trump is NOT in charge of the METHOD of billing by a third party, not how that party who is a legal professional categorizes the billing.
Then the Liberal deep state of NY files charges saying that this should have been an election expense and should have been reported as such. There are THREE problems with this. The settlement was for an action he was accused of LONG BEFORE he ran for office. And the settlement was AFTER be was elected. Then there is the problem of it being illegal federally to list a non-election related expense (a settlement for an action before he was a candidate) on a federal election report.
The Prosecution has YET to define HOW he should have filed any related information, and has yet to show that the information should have been pubic in any way….especially since the perpetrator of the extortion signed a non-disclosure and most likely Trump did the same!
When this is over, one of the FIRST things that the NEWLY Elected President Trump needs to do is END QUALIFIED IMMUNITY for all government employees nationwide, federal, State, County and City. Then end qualified immunity for all JUDGES, except SCOTUS Justices.