Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday railed against Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing a New York criminal case against the former president, for issuing a gag order.
Under Merchan’s order, Trump is restricted from speaking about those testifying against him, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump before he was president.
“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 posted to social media site Truth Social.
The real estate mogul also said that the judge’s daughter “represents Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and other Radical Liberals” and “posted a picture of me behind bars,” which Trump said “makes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial.”
As reported by CNBC, the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, was or currently is an executive at Authentic Campaigns, a progressive political consultant that works for various Democratic clients, including President Joe Biden. Notably, Judge Merchan donated to Biden’s presidential campaign against Trump in 2020.
Trump continued his post on Tuesday, writing, “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, including the fact that Crooked Joe Biden, [Attorney General] Merrick Garland, and their Hacks and Thugs are tracking and following me all across the Country, obsessively trying to persecute me, while everyone knows I have done nothing wrong!”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case against Trump, claims the former president falsified business records related to payments he made before the 2016 election from Cohen to Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts brought by Bragg’s office and denied claims that he ever had a relationship with Daniels.
The trial is scheduled to begin on April 15, despite efforts from Trump’s legal team to delay over a recent document dump. Bragg claimed the overwhelming majority of the 200,000 or so pages of documents recently turned over by the Southern District of New York are not relevant to his prosecution of Trump, and therefore the trial should not experience additional delays.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report
Related: Judge Issues Gag Order On Trump Ahead Of New York Criminal Trial