Former President Donald Trump took to social media for the second time in two days to attack the daughter of the judge overseeing his upcoming criminal trial in New York.
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump wrote that Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s daughter is a “rabid Trump hater.” He also called for the judge to recuse himself from the April 15 criminal trial on a case related to the hush money payments Trump made ahead of the 2016 election.
“Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately. His Daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
This wasn’t the first attack Trump has made this week on Merchan’s daughter — or even Merchan himself.
On Tuesday, Trump had echoed similar remarks about Merchan presiding over the case, and then proceeded to call out his daughter for allegedly using a photo of him behind bars as a profile photo on X (formerly Twitter).
“So, let me get this straight, the Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
A spokesperson for New York’s state court confirmed Wednesday that Merchan’s daughter deleted the handle about a year ago and it was taken over by someone else, The New York Times reported.
Trump also lashed out at Merchan on Tuesday in a Truth Social post, particularly referencing the gag order the judge imposed on him that day.
“Judge Juan Merchan, who is suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome … has now issued another illegal, un-American, unConstitutional ‘order,’ as he continues to try and take away my Rights,” Trump wrote in his post. “This Judge, by issuing a vicious ‘Gag Order,’ is wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement.”
The gag order bars Trump from making public statements about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or jurors in the trial, which he has a history of doing. But the gag order doesn’t mention Merchan or his family.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday night, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said that it’s “troubling” and an “attack on the rule of law” when judges and their families are threatened. But he added Merchan did the “right thing” by not including him or his family in Trump’s gag order.
“When we take the oath of office, we have an obligation to make sure that all parties in our courtroom receive a fair adjudication regardless of who they are, what their politics are, or what they’ve alleged to have done,” Walton, who has handled multiple cases on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, told CNN.
He continued: “I think it’s crucial that judges not make themselves a part of the issue, and so I think the judge did the right thing by not including himself in the game.”
The former president, who has three other indictments set for trial, has made it a habit to attack the judges overseeing his cases. Last November, Trump repeatedly and publicly attacked the judge and staff of the New York City court where his civil fraud trial took place, which led to a slew of physical threats and messages with racist, sexist and antisemitic slurs.
Walton, who has received more threats to both himself and his family since having Jan. 6 defendants in his courtroom, told CNN that people, especially those with status in society, should be careful about statements they make and be wary of the impact that those statements may have on others.
“I think it’s very important that people in positions of authority be very circumspect in reference to the things that they say, so that they’re not causing others to act on what they say and maybe cause injury or deaths to someone as a result of that,” he said.