On Tuesday, the New York judge presiding over Donald Trump’s trial over alleged hush money payments to a porn star slapped a partial gag order on the former president.
Judge Juan Merchan ordered Donald Trump not to publicly attack witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, their families or prospective jurors.
The move came after Donald Trump thrashed out at the judge and his daughter in a series of posts on Truth Social.
Trump described Merchan as a true and certified Trump hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
‘In other words, he hates me’, Trump said. He added, ‘Judge Merchan should recuse himself, he cannot give me a fair trial’. The former Republican president also said Merchan’s daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm.
Merchan is the third judge overseeing a case against Donald Trump to issue a partial gag order. Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over a business fraud case in New York that resulted in a $454 million fine for Trump, also issued a partial gag order.
In his order on Tuesday, Merchan noted that Trump had a history of making public statements which were threatening and inflammatory.
The Judge said, ‘The uncontested record showing the defendant’s prior extrajudicial statements establishes a sufficient risk to the administration of justice’.
Merchan added that there exists no less restrictive means to prevent such risk besides imposing a gag order. Merchan set April 15 as the date for the start of the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.
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