Donald Trump was muzzled on Tuesday in the “hush money” case. The ex-president is not allowed to comment publicly on people involved in the trial.
Trump is and has been an avid user of his own platform Truth Social. There he has criticized several of the judges, employees of the prosecution authorities and their family members to his millions of followers.
In the last week it has been judge Juan Merchan’s turn. On Monday, the judge decided that the “hush money” case will start on April 15 as planned.
Trump’s team tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed and postponed. After the decision, Trump called the judge a Trump hater and pointed out that Merchan’s daughter works for a consulting firm that has worked on political campaigns for several Democrats.
The consulting firm is said to have worked with the campaigns of both Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, according to The Hill.
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– So unusual
Trump’s fresh muzzle was already proposed in February by Attorney General Alvin Bragg. The attorney general believed Trump had a history of lashing out at people involved in the lawsuits against him.
– This is so unusual. It has never happened, says lawyer Nick Akerman to CNN. He was part of the prosecution team in the Watergate scandal in the early 70s. Today he works as a lawyer in New York.
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In recent months, Trump has repeatedly taken to the keyboard with disparaging comments about judges and people involved in the trials. It is not a chess move, Akerman believes.
– It is about the judge who can send you to prison or release you on probation. You don’t do things like that. Donald Trump is the only person I’ve seen do this, and in a terrible way, Akerman points out.
Tuesday’s gag isn’t Trump’s first, or others. In October 2023, Trump was muzzled in the fraud case in New York, and in the trial of election interference in New York.
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Wanted the referee to resign
Despite the muzzle, Trump did not refrain from commenting on Juan Merchan on Wednesday. The ex-president claims that the judge in the “hush money” case suffers from “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, and that his right to freedom of expression is being taken away when he has now been muzzled.
He also lashed out again at the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan. She is said to have used a fictitious picture of Trump behind bars as a profile picture on her Twitter account. It has now been taken down.
Trump has long believed that the judge should resign because of the bond. Merchan has also donated $15 to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, according to the Washington Post. The judge discussed the request with the state ethics board, but concluded that he could continue as a judge in the trial.
