Left: Judge Juan Merchan in his office in New York, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Merchan is overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York (AP Photo/Seth Wenig). Right: FILE – Former President Donald Trump in a courtroom, April 4, 2023, in New York (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File).
The judge in Donald Trump's Manhattan hush-money trial wanted to emphasize that the gag order didn't prevent the former president from testifying in his own defense, despite Trump's comments outside the courtroom. But will he notice the most recent controversial Truth Social post? adjudicated serial contemnor’s latest limits-pushing Truth Social post?
On Thursday, Trump, accompanied by his defense attorney Todd Blanche, claimed, “I’m not allowed to testify because of an unconstitutional gag order,” seeking approval from Blanche. From the beginning, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s statedexpanded gag order applied to Trump’s out-of-court statements about witnesses, jurors, the judge’s daughter, and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s (D) family, not Trump’s right to testify in his own defense inside the courtroom. The judge took it upon himself Friday to clarify any “ misunderstanding” the defense might have had about this issue.“I want to stress to Mr. Trump: You have an absolute right to testify at trial,” Merchan said,
Justice Merchan addresses Trump’s comments yesterday at his end-of-day press conference, falsely claiming he’s gagged from testifying.
“I want to stress to Mr. Trump: You have an absolute right to testify at trial.”
The Constitution guarantees that right, he emphasizes.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) May 3, 2024
according to several courtroom accounts of the judge’s remarks. While it’s unclear if Trump was simply mistaken or was, perhaps, pre-blaming the judge for a potential defense decision not to testify in the case, it’s also unclear whether he’s provoking the judge to imprison him for violating the gag order rules that actually
As recently as three days ago do apply.
, Merchan held Trump in criminal contempt for violating the gag order nine times, both in posts on his Truth Social account and on his campaign website. Trump was ordered to remove the posts, and he took them down. He was fined $9,000 and warned that “jail may be a necessary punishment” for additional violations.Importantly, Merchan discussed the issue of whether Trump’s Truth Social reposts equal endorsements of the content he’s sharing and, therefore, reflect the former president’s personal statements.
“Regarding what has been referred to as “reposts,” Exhibits 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, this Court finds that a repost, whether with or without commentary by the Defendant, is in fact a statement of the Defendant,” his
said, before elaborating: “Both the Truth Social account and the official campaign website exclusively represent the opinions and views of the Defendant, and neither is an open forum for others to post their own content. Defendant curated the posts at issue and then took the necessary steps to publish the posts on his Truth Social account and on his campaign website. In doing so, he endorsed the posts with one purpose in mind – to maximize viewership and to communicate his stamp of approval.” decision Yet two days after getting that warning, Trump shared a link, without saying anything, to a video that amplifies criticism of the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, and her job
working as a consultant for Democrats at Authentic Campaigns. By that reasoning, then, would the May 2
Truth Social post of a Rumble video showing Trump ally Rudy Giuliani’s son Andrew Giuliani criticizing the judge’s daughter cross the line? order prevents Trump from
The gag [m]aking or telling others to make public statements about ( from “1) lawyer in the case other than the District Attorney, (2) members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or (3)the family members of any lawyer, staff member, the Court or the District Attorney, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, lawyer’s or staff’s work in this criminal case, knowledge that such interference is likely or with the to result.” [emphasis ours]. Near the start of the video that
Trump posted , which was about the former president’s supporters gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse, Steve Bannon asked Andrew Giuliani for his thoughts on Merchan threatening to throw Trump in jail for future gag order violations.“Yeah, I mean, he’s fined him for 9 times of this, and he made him actually remove this. He’s making him remove it from his social media. So talk about violating his First Amendment rights on this,” the younger Giuliani answered, before criticizing the judge’s daughter without naming her. “And you got to remember, Steve, going back to all this, the gag order that he is violating, according to the judge, that Donald Trump is violating, is just pointing out the fact that the judge’s daughter has profited to the tune of $90 million. That’s right. Over $90 million from Adam Schiff, Kamala Harris, and other leftists.”
When Merchan updated the gag order in April, he rejected the claim made by Trump’s defense that it was “necessary and appropriate in the current environment” to post photos of the jurist’s daughter online in service of advancing the argument her activities showed that a) the judge’s impartiality could reasonably be questioned and b) that he should recuse himself.
The judge said nothing stands in the way of Trump testifying in his own defense, but will he notice the adjudicated serial contemnor’s latest limits-pushing Truth Social post?