New filings in two court cases address defendant Donald Trump’s inability to stop attacking people.
Trump is already testing the bounds of his latest gag order, in which he was forbidden to launch attacks on witnesses, court staff, and the families of court staff, “with the intent to…interfere” with said staff’s work on the case, which is his felony trial for the falsification of business records. At the same time, the fact that he’s continued to attack E. Jean Carroll after being found liable for defamation could block his demand for a new trial in that case.
Trump has been making public comments about Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter, who heads a company that does political work, including for several major Democratic elected officials. His Tuesday morning comments were followed by a Tuesday afternoon gag order, and as of Wednesday noon, he’s already testing just how far he can go without being hit with a contempt of court citation.
Laura Loomer, a Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist, posted screenshots of a Twitter account she alleges belongs to Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, showing Loomer blocked and the profile pic as Trump behind bars. Trump set off on a three-post rant, repeating Loomer’s allegations and declaring the situation unfair. In part, he complained:
“[Merchan’s daughter] has just posted a picture of me behind bars, her obvious goal, and makes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial…So, let me get this straight, the Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her “dream” of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me, and the Lunatics trying to destroy my life, and prevent me from winning the 2024 Presidential Election, which I am dominating?…The Judge has to recuse himself immediately, and right the wrong committed by not doing so last year.”
The account that Loomer pointed out currently has a different profile pic, and only approved followers can see the content. There are also no recent archived copies available, so it’s hard to verify whether the image she showed was ever actually posted, or whether the account does belong to Judge Merchan’s daughter.
However, Trump is right about one thing: a private citizen (who is not a party to the case) can absolutely post their opinion that he should be locked up, and the judge can issue gag orders preventing a criminal defendant from making certain types of statements to prejudice a case. Whether or not this specific gag order will hold up on appeal remains to be seen.
As for Trump’s other assertions, he’s offered no evidence that the D.A. has lied about him, or that the judge has violated the Constitution or any laws.
His inability to stop verbally attacking people, though, is hurting him in the E. Jean Carroll case.
He managed to land himself a $83 million verdict, and paid a $91 million bond to stay the judgment during appeal, but continued to repeat the same statements deemed defamatory. Now he’s asking for a new trial, saying he was treated unfairly, and Carroll’s legal team responded Wednesday. Law & Crime reports:
“Donald Trump‘s ‘great difficulty’ in refraining from making defamatory statements about writer E. Jean Carroll and from casting doubt on whether he sexually assaulted her is so ‘particularly acute,’ according to the writer’s lawyers, that the court must reject the former president’s request for a new defamation trial and cast aside his assertions on appeal that the jury received erroneous instruction.”
In short, the fact that he continues to attack Carroll after two judgments finding that he has defamed her (as well as sexually assaulted her) may be the factor that prevents Trump from getting a new hearing in that case.
Trump claims that Democrats, prosecutors, District Attorneys, and judges are all out to “get Trump” and hurt his re-election chances, but the evidence suggests that nobody is doing more to hurt Trump than himself and his uncontrolable mouth.
Below, you can see Trump’s angry post from Wednesday morning.
Part 1, in which he repeats Loomer’s allegations about Ms. Merchan and complains about the gag order, Adam Schiff, and more.
