“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Merchan wrote. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for defendant’s vitriol.”
Bragg’s office asked the judge to clarify that their family members are included, calling such protection “amply warranted.” Noting Trump’s track record of issuing “threatening and alarming remarks,” Bragg’s office warned of “the harms that those family members have suffered.”
The personal connection to the gag order complicated Merchan’s decision. Shortly after last week’s initial gag order Trump issued a series of blistering attacks on Merchan and his daughter, Loren, a political consultant who has worked with Democratic candidates.
Specifically, Trump had accused Loren Merchan — falsely — of having posted a photo of him behind bars on an account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Court officials said the account cited by Trump had been taken over last year by someone other than Merchan.
On Thursday, Trump ramped up his attacks, identifying Juan Merchan’s daughter by name and accusing her of being “a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me.” The former president then renewed his demands that the judge recuse himself from the case, calling Merchan “totally compromised.”
And Saturday, in an ominous escalation, Trump posted a news article to Truth Social that displayed two pictures of Loren Merchan.
Trump, the first former American president to face criminal prosecution, is scheduled to go on trial April 15. Bragg charged him with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the reimbursement of a hush-money payment to hide a sexual encounter with a porn actor, Stormy Daniels.
Trump, once again the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has denied the affair and the charges, which he claims are politically motivated. Trump and his campaign have also lashed out at the gag order, calling it “unconstitutional.” And his lawyers argued against expanding the gag order to include Merchan and Bragg’s family, noting that the original order did not cover the judge or the district attorney.
Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers, declined to comment Monday.
Juan Merchan is just the latest judge to impose a gag order on the former president. A federal appeals court upheld a gag order in Trump’s federal criminal case in Washington, where he is accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. And in his civil fraud case in New York, Trump was ordered not to comment on court staff members after he attacked the judge’s principal law clerk. The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, imposed US$15,000 ($25,000) in fines on the former president when he ran afoul of that order.
If Trump violates the order, the judge could impose fines, and in extraordinary circumstances, throw him behind bars.
In a court filing Monday, Bragg’s office asked the judge to warn Trump that he will be punished if he ignores the order, in stark language that seemingly underscored the state’s concern about the former president’s words.
“Defendant’s dangerous, violent and reprehensible rhetoric fundamentally threatens the integrity of these proceedings and is intended to intimidate witnesses and trial participants alike — including this court,” Bragg’s office wrote.
And in his ruling Monday, Merchan focused on his concerns about the effect of Trump’s statements on the upcoming trial.
“It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings,” the judge wrote. “The threat is very real.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Jesse McKinley, Ben Protess and William K. Rashbaum
©2024 THE NEW YORK TIMES
