Even though Donald Trump had the day off from criminal proceedings in his hush money trial, he spent it grumbling about the judge overseeing his case.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a more conflicted judge — crooked and conflicted,” Trump said of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan at a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan. “And I’m unconstitutionally gagged.”
On Tuesday, Merchan fined the former president $9,000 for violating a gag order surrounding his case, which prohibits Trump from making any public remarks about jurors, lawyers, witnesses, court staff and their families. If he continues to violate the terms of the gag order, Merchan warned Trump, “jail may be a necessary punishment.”
Trump falsely suggested at his rally that the gag order was intended to stop him from speaking to his supporters about anything, not just the trial.
“He gagged me, so I’m not even supposed to be talking to you ― because he gagged me!” the presumptive Republican nominee for president proclaimed.
“I have a judge who gagged me! I’m not allowed to talk about things,” he continued.
Merchan first placed Trump under the gag order in March after prosecutors pointed out his “long history of making public and inflammatory remarks” about people connected to his legal cases. The original order barred him from speaking about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors. Merchan later expanded it to include both his own family and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s family members, after Trump assailed Merchan’s daughter on social media with false attacks.
At his rally Wednesday, Trump insisted the whole trial is a farce and that it’s only increasing his popularity.”
“What you’re witnessing in New York is not a legal proceeding,” he said. “It’s an unlawful exercise in very stupid and very evil politics. But here’s the good news. It’s driven the poll numbers higher than we’ve ever had before. Because people get it ― it’s a scam.”