Judge Juan Merchan has not yet issued a contempt charge against Donald Trump for continuing to post about the judge’s daughter after making a clarification of his gag order to ensure that Trump knows that she is covered by it.
So is a contempt citation coming? — or will the judge (who Trump wants removed from the case) continue to show unprecedented restraint and let it slide?
After being barred from making attacks on Judge Merchan’s daughter, Trump has continued to test the boundaries of the order by posting not his own thoughts on the woman — who is not a party to the case — but news articles mentioning her or addressing imagined or perceived connections.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg, when asking for the expanded order last week, warned that allowing Trump to endanger the judge’s daughter will send a message to witnesses and others who are involved in the case that the court won’t protect them.
In fact, the words Bragg used are “fair game” — he said that if witnesses see that “this court’s family is fair game” they’ll perceive their own to be as well.
One of Trump’s late-night posts on Friday was an opinion piece by Gregg Jarrett that used the same phrase, insisting that as a political advisor, Merchan’s daughter is, in fact, “fair game” because she’s a public figure.
That opinion piece went on to make the same unfounded allegations — that Merchan is compromised and that his daughter is enriching herself off his case — that earned Trump an expanded gag order to begin with.
At the same time, Trump has filed a new motion demanding Judge Merchan recuse himself from the case, claiming new evidence and using the same arguments that the judge, with the advice of the judicial ethics board, rejected previously.
He linked that filing on his website, boosting and reiterating the already-refuted claim that Merchan’s daughter still maintains ownership and control of a Twitter account that she closed, which was re-opened by an unknown individual and has posted photos of Trump behind bars, as well as his unsupported argument that the younger Merchan’s work for Democratic candidates makes her father ineligible to preside over a criminal case.
While everyone is speculating about exactly how much Merchan will tolerate and whether he could go as far as punishing the infraction with jail time, it should be noted Trump has been held accountable for similar actions before.
It took a few contempt fines in Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom, but Trump (who still pursued appeals of that gag order, to no avail) did stop attacking his law clerk.
This felony hush money case goes to trial on April 15th, and while Trump is desperate to stop it, Merchan has indicated that he will not allow any further delays. Expect the desperate defendant to continue to test the judge’s limits until a verdict is reached and perhaps even beyond then.
