'Take off the Gag Order!' Trump spits hot rage at Judge Merchan in early morning rant
Former President Donald Trump was up bright and early on Tuesday morning with fresh attacks on the judge overseeing his New York hush-money trial.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, the former president again lashed out at Judge Juan Merchan for hitting him with a gag order that prevents him from attacking witnesses or family members of court personnel.
"This conflicted, Trump Hating Judge won’t let me respond to people that are on TV lying and spewing hate all day long," said the former president, who was impeached twice during his lone term in office and has since been indicted on criminal charges in four different jurisdictions. "He is running rough shod over my lawyers and legal team. The New York System of 'Justice' is being decimated by critics from all over the World. I want to speak, or at least be able respond. Election Interference! RIGGED, UNCONSTITUTIONAL TRIAL! Take off the Gag Order!!!"
In fact, criminal defendants such as Trump are routinely barred from attacking witnesses at trial on the grounds that such attacks could both intimidate such witnesses and could prejudice juries against them.
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In a separate all-caps post, Trump also informed his followers that "MY TRIAL IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA," despite the fact that America itself has not been accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment made to an adult film star.
Trump's trial related to hush-money payments is far from the only legal trouble he faces, and many legal experts have called the other charges that have been leveled against him -- including allegedly trying to defraud the United States with a scheme to illegally stay in power and allegedly obstructing government efforts to retrieve top-secret government documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort -- as significantly more serious.