Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan warned former President Donald Trump against using social media for violent ends after his arraignment hearing Tuesday, but stopped short of issuing any sort of formal gag order.
Merchan said he was specifically concerned that Trump would “incite violence or civil unrest” and issued the warning after Trump repeatedly published seemingly threatening statements in recent weeks, as the reality of his indictment set in.
In one post, which has since been removed, Trump posted a picture of himself wielding a baseball bat alongside a photo of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with his hands up.
In another, Trump ominously warned of “death & destruction” should he be charged.
Trump attorneys Joe Tacopina and Todd Blanche held an impromptu media conference after Trump’s arraignment hearing, wherein Tacopina unconvincingly claimed that Trump’s baseball bat post wasn’t threatening at all.
“He wasn’t swinging a baseball bat at anyone’s head,” Tacopina said, adding that Trump was just “showing off an American-made bat.”
Trump surrendered himself to law enforcement on Tuesday in New York City, where he’s facing 34 felony charges stemming from hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Merchan rejected the requests of multiple media outlets to televise the proceedings, though Trump himself reportedly brought a videographer along to document as much of the process as possible.
Trump attacked Merchan after he was indicted last week, claiming without evidence that Merchan “HATES” him.