Donald Trump called into a conservative radio show on Monday evening to complain about his New York hush money trial, insisting it was “very unfair” a matter of hours before Judge Juan Merchan is due to hear a complaint from the prosecution about alleged violations of the gag order placed on the defendant that could see him fined.
“This judge – who is a totally conflicted person, by the way, he should not be the judge of this case, he’s so conflicted, nobody’s ever been as conflicted as him, just about – but this judge said I can’t get away from the trial,” Mr Trump moaned to host John Fredericks on the Real America’s Voice show Outside the Beltway.
“You know he’s rushing the trial. That jury was picked so fast – 95 per cent Democrats. The area is mostly all Democrats. You think of it as just a purely Democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you.”
Mr Trump was speaking after opening statements had been held in Judge Merchan’s Manhattan courtroom on Monday and the prosecution called its first witness: former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, there to take questions on the phenomenon of “catch-and-kill” chequebook journalism within the tabloid media.
On Tuesday, court will resume with a hearing on Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s request that the judge hold the defendant in contempt of court and fine him for at least seven different violations of the gag order.
“It’s ridiculous, and it has to stop,” assistant district attorney Christopher Conroy told the judge on Thursday when the prosecution first raised its objections to Mr Trump continuing to post about the trial on his Truth Social platform even after he had been slapped with the order over his repeated public outbursts against Mr Bragg, Judge Merchan and even the justice’s daughter, alleging political bias against them without evidence.
One of Mr Trump’s social media posts featuring a clip of Fox News personality Jesse Watters speculating about the prospect of “undercover left-wing activists” among the pool of New Yorkers being considered for jury duty last week was labelled “disturbing” by the prosecution.
Such was the concern about the former president’s social media activity among lawyers from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that they last week declined to tell the defence in advance who their witnesses would be, preferring to shield them from Mr Trump’s wrath.
Despite the prospect of financial penalties hanging over his head if he is found to have violated the terms of the order, the defendant again ranted outside court on Monday about the injustice he believes he is facing and accused prosecution witness Michael Cohen, his estranged former personal attorney, of lying.
He also later labelled Mr Bragg “an election denier” on Truth Social in another potential violation.
Speaking MSNBC, legal analyst Andrew Weissmann said: “The fact that he’s doing something that appears by all accounts to be a direct violation of the order as late as tonight in advance of a 9.30am hearing on violations with respect to witnesses and a violation with respect to jurors — both… are things that a judge is going to care tremendously about.
“He could impose the fine that is obviously negligible and saber-rattle about what’s next,” Mr Weissmann added, but recommended that the judge instead “leave aside politics” and treat Mr Trump’s conduct just like that of “any other defendant.”
He continued: “We have seen the legal system bend over so far to accommodate Donald Trump. He is not being treated worse. He is being treated so much better, whether you’re talking about [the Department of Justice] or whether you’re talking about all of the criminal cases.”
Mr Trump is expected to be on trial in New York for six to eight weeks after being indicted last year by Mr Bragg, who accused him of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to the porn star Stormy Daniels on his behalf to stay silent about an sexual encounter she alleges they had in 2006.
The defendant, running for the presidency once more in 2024, denies the affair and all 34 felony counts against him, repeatedly attacking the prosecution as a “scam” and a “witchhunt” designed by his political enemies to stop him campaigning for the White House against Joe Biden.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
