Theodore Parisienne/NY Daily News via Getty Images
- Bright and early Tuesday, Donald Trump made clear he really hates his expanded hush-money gag order.
- The new gag bars Trump from continuing to attack the judge's political-consultant daughter.
- "They can talk about me, but I can't talk about them??? That sounds fair, doesn't it?" Trump said.
Donald Trump tore into the New York judge overseeing his hush money criminal trial Tuesday morning for expanding a gag order the night before — but the GOP frontrunner kept his comments within the gag's new guardrails.
State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had broadened the gag on Monday night to bar Trump from making any statement against the judge's family members that could interfere with the case, set for jury selection on April 15.
The new gag was prompted over the past week by Trump continuing to attack the judge's daughter, Loren Merchan, a progressive political consultant whose company has promoted the campaigns of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
"I just was informed that another corrupt New York Judge, Juan Merchan, GAGGED me so that I can not talk about the corruption and conflicts taking place in his courtroom with respect to a case that everyone, including the D.A., felt should never have been brought," Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump ripped Merchan, saying that the judge "should be recused."
"They can talk about me, but I can't talk about them??? That sounds fair, doesn't it? This Judge should be recused, and the case should be thrown out. There has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one. ELECTION INTERFERENCE at its worst!" Trump's post continued.
Trump's attacks on Loren Merchan — which included an identifying photograph and false claims that she'd posted an illustration of Trump behind bars — have caused trial witnesses to fear for their safety, prosecutors have complained.
Under the expanded gag order, Trump is prohibited from personally making — or directing others to make — statements about "family members of any counsel, staff member, the Court or the District Attorney," if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with the case.
"This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose," the judge wrote in Monday night's order expanding Trump's gag.
"It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their members as well, are 'fair game' for Defendant's vitriol."
"It remains this Court's fundamental responsibility to protect the integrity of the criminal process and to control disruptive influences in the court," he wrote.
Trump and his lawyers have said they will appeal the gag order.