Less than 24 hours after injection with a partial congestion order in a New York criminal case related to his claim falsifying business recordsformer president Donald Trump repeatedly insulted a person not covered by the sentence – the judge.
On the social media platform, Trump called the judge Juan Merchan “Biased and contradictory” and at the same time, a court spokeswoman has branded a judge’s daughter over a social media post that it said was falsely attributed to her.
One judgment On Tuesday, Merchan noted the upcoming April 15 trial date and Trump said he should refrain from “making or directing public statements about the potential involvement of known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses in the case, as well as about individual prosecutors, court staff and their family members.”
The order did not mention the judge or members of his family — a loophole that Trump used on Wednesday.
“By issuing a cruel ‘Gag Order,’ this Judge is unjustly attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment right to speak out against the arming of Law Enforcement,” Trump wrote, adding that the judge “suffered from Trump’s sharp case.” Derangement Syndrome” and should refrain from work.
Attacks continue the pattern Trump criticized judges and the court system on social media after receiving a negative decision in court.
As he has done before, Trump went after Mercha’s daughter, who works at a progressive digital marketing agency that has worked for many Democratic candidates.
“Maybe the Judge hates it because his daughter is making money working for ‘Get Trump,'” one of her posts said. She also accused him of posting a photo of himself behind bars on social media — an allegation that appears to have come from a Trump ally, far-right activist and conspiracy theorist. Laura Loomerwho tweeted the picture.
In a statement Wednesday night, Al Baker, a spokesman for the state judiciary, said the X account attributed to Mercha’s daughter was not hers. Baker said the account “was no longer hers because she deleted it about a year ago. It’s not associated with her email address and she hasn’t posted under that screen name since she deleted the account.”
The handle used in the X profile highlighted by Loomer had previously been linked to Mercha’s daughter in 2022, but the profile Loomer shared said the person joined X in April 2023, the same month right-wing news outlets wrote critical stories about her daughter.
Baker said someone apparently recreated a version of the account that month, which he called a “manipulation of a long-abandoned account.”
Loomer made a claim that was also involved last year his wife Jnozzle Arthur Engoron, Presiding over Trump’s civil fraud trial, he accused him of sharing anti-Trump memes on social media.
Trump then attacked the judge’s wife, who was partially undefended congestion order In this case, Engoron had put him in his place.
Baker later said that Loomer’s claims were not from the judge’s wife.
“Justice Engoro’s wife did not post any posts on social networks about the former president. They’re not his,” Baker said.
Trump never admitted or apologized for the blatantly false accusation.
A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Baker on Wednesday night, saying the X account attributed to Merchan’s daughter was not his.
Moment NBC News analysis Following Trump’s posts on his social media platform Truth Social earlier this year, he found that his unprecedented attacks on the judiciary were often linked to developments in court cases and sometimes outnumbered his re-election bids.
Trump’s criticism is often costly for his targets. Merchan, Engoron and the judge presiding over his federal election interference case in Washington, Tanya Chutkan, all have. rreceived threats After Trump’s complaints.
Merchan recounted his experience Tuesday when Trump issued an executive order barring him from commenting on individual prosecutors (with the exception of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg), court staff, their family members, jurors and potential jurors.
Although he did not initially rule at the start of the case, the judge said he was acting now “given the nature and impact of the statements made against this Court and the family member, as well as prosecutors and witnesses.” “Given that the eve of the trial is upon us, certainly the imminence of the risk of harm is now very important.”
Trump’s lawyers argued in court filings that because their client is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, he “should have unfettered access to the voting public to respond to attacks by political opponents.”
In his ruling, Merchan said Trump’s public comments in this case and others “go far beyond self-defense against attacks.”
“Indeed, his statements were threatening, inflammatory” and “defamatory” and “the consequences of these statements included not only fear in the target, but also the deployment of increased security resources to investigate threats and protect individuals.” their family members”, the judge wrote.
The DA’s case alleges Trump falsified business records To cover up payments Cohen made to then-attorney Michael Cohen, such as a refund of a $130,000 hush payment Cohen paid adult film star Stormi Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Daniels claimed she had sex with Trump in 2006, which Trump denied.
There is Trump he pleaded not guilty in the case and maintains that the charges are part of a politically orchestrated witch hunt against him.