Before voir dire got started this afternoon, Donald Trump had already begun testing the patience of Justice Juan Merchan. Last month, a gag order was enforced by the court, forbidding the former president from publicly targeting witnesses, jurors, and attorneys associated with his prosecution. This is linked to his alleged creation of false business records to mask payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, in 2016. Instead of compliance, Trump commenced a fresh attack on Justice Merchan’s daughter, who is employed by a Democratic communications firm, while his attorneys appealed for recusal on the grounds that her role creates an insurmountable conflict of interest. The judge subsequently extended the gag order to include his own family members, as well as those of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whom Trump had also maligned.
Ignoring the court’s express directives, Trump ventured into contempt territory, making several posts on Truth Social that criticized Merchan’s daughter. Over the course of last three days, Trump allegedly escalated the matter by posting attacks targeting his former attorney, Michael Cohen, and Stormy Daniels, both of whom are prepared to testify in this case.
Donald Trump tagged Cohen as a “disgraced attorney and felon” who has been “prosecuted for LYING” in one of his posts, and even while the trial was ongoing, he quoted the New York Post to label him as a “serial perjurer” trying to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump, terming it an embarrassment for the New York legal system in another post. Earlier, he quoted a statement by Daniels’s former attorney, Michael Avenatti, in which Avenatti called Daniels and himself sleazebags, presumably from an interview conducted in jail in a different post.
In response to this situation, and after arguing on Trump’s motion to recuse and keep his tweets out of evidence—both of which were denied—plus Trump’s power nap, prosecutors stated that they would be advancing a contempt motion two times. Christopher Conroy, Assistant District Attorney, requested $1,000 for each violation and asked the court to instruct Trump to remove the offending posts. Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, argued that his client was only reacting to repeated and vehement attacks by the witnesses.
The judge was unswayed by Trump’s justification for the posts, but demonstrated no particular urgency to resolve it, setting a hearing date for the 23rd. As the article was being written, a group of potential jurors had begun filling out a 42-question jury sheet.
For further details about the case, People v. Trump provides comprehensive case documents.
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