Former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at 40 Wall Street on March 25, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Donald Trump again targeted the daughter of the judge in his upcoming hush money trial on social media on Wednesday, a day after that judge issued a hush money order limiting Trump’s ability to testify about the case.
In a Truth Social message, Trump called New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan a “hater” and repeated his call for the judge to recuse himself from the case.
Trump pointed to Merchan’s daughter’s work in progressive politics and a social media account he claims belongs to her as evidence that it is “completely impossible” for him to ensure a “fair trial.” to get.
Merchan’s daughter “represents Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff and other radical liberals, [and] just posted a picture of me behind bars, their apparent target,” Trump claimed.
The posts marked the second straight day that Trump highlighted Merchan’s daughter’s role as president at Authentic Campaigns, a Democratic political consulting firm. The company touts its work for clients including President Joe Biden, whom Trump is campaigning against, as well as other Democratic groups and politicians.
“Maybe the judge is such a hater because his daughter makes money advocating for ‘Trump,’ and if he keeps ruling against me, he’s making her company and her richer and richer,” Trump wrote. “How can this be allowed?”
Trump attorney Todd Blanche declined to comment on Trump’s posts because the gag order prevents him from making certain statements about “family members of attorneys or employees.”
The posts extended Trump’s wave of attacks against Merchan, which began after the judge set the April 15 trial date in the hush money case. Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business documents to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s recent attacks on Merchan’s daughter went beyond his previous comments, claiming she “just posted a picture of him behind bars.”
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Trump was apparently referring to a social media account on X, which Authentic had previously linked to Merchan’s daughter.
Just on Wednesday, this X account showed an edited headshot of Trump behind metal bars as its profile picture. As of Wednesday afternoon, that profile photo had been changed to a childhood photo of Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris shared this photo on social media during a 2019 Democratic primary debate, shortly after she attacked then-rival Biden over his busing record.
According to an Office of Court Administration spokesperson, the X account does not currently belong to Merchan’s daughter.
“The X account, formerly Twitter, attributed to Judge Merchan’s daughter, no longer belongs to her since she deleted it approximately a year ago,” the spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News.
“It is not linked to her email address, nor has she posted under that username since deleting the account,” the statement said. “Rather, it represents the recovery and manipulation last April of an account that she abandoned long ago.”
X states that the account was “joined in April 2023,” four months after Authentic last referenced it in a social media post.
Trump was indicted in the hush money case last April. Around the same time, several right-wing news outlets published reports on Merchan’s daughter’s political activities.
The X account’s posts are protected, meaning they can only be viewed by authorized followers.
However, Trump claimed on Wednesday that the account belonged to her while railing against his latest gag order.
“So, let me get this straight: the judge’s daughter can post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in prison, the Manhattan district attorney can lie about me whatever he wants, the judge can violate our laws and “Violating our Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to speak about the attacks against me and the lunatics who are trying to destroy my life and prevent me from winning the 2024 presidential election that I dominate?” he wrote .
The gag order imposed Tuesday does not completely prevent Trump from speaking out about his critics. He can still criticize the prosecutor in his case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and is not specifically prohibited from discussing Merchan himself.
Trump, however, is barred from making public statements about likely witnesses and jurors in the case.
And he cannot speak about the attorneys, court staff, employees in the prosecutor’s office and their family members involved in the case if those statements are made with the “intent of materially disrupting the proceedings.”
Merchan wrote in the order that Trump’s previous comments about various people involved in the case were “threatening and inflammatory.” [and] denigrate.”
“Such inflammatory statements undoubtedly risk obstructing the proper administration of this Court,” wrote the judge, who also noted “the nature and impact of the statements made against this Court and a family member thereof.”
“Given that the eve of trial is upon us, there is no doubt that the imminent threat of harm is now paramount,” he wrote.
Trump had made references to Merchan’s daughter on Truth Social around the time of his impeachment in the hush money case.
Trump’s lawyers pointed to Merchan’s daughter’s work in a court filing last May and called on the judge to recuse himself from the case.
Merchan declined in August.
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2024-03-27 23:42:02
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