Donald Trump, former President of the United States, is suing the New York judge who hit him with a limited ‘gag order’ during his election campaign in regards to the ‘hush money’ case.
Trump’s attorneys are filing the lawsuit with the New York Court of Appeals, seeking a delay and appealing the gag order Merchan imposed on the presidential candidate.
The New York Times reported that “an online court docket where Mr. Trump is expected to file the so-called Article 78 action — a special proceeding that comes in the form of a lawsuit and can be used to challenge New York State government agencies and judges — showed that the related paperwork was sealed.”
The second move was to request a change of venue out of the Manhattan court. One of the former president’s lawyers, Emil Bove, argued that Manhattan jurors were too biased to hear the case and have been bombarded with an unusual amount of negative coverage about his client.
“In terms of prejudicial pretrial publicity in this county, this case stands alone,” Bove said. The attorney pointed to an online survey conducted by Trump’s team that found that 61 percent of Manhattan residents have already concluded that the former president is guilty.
Trump earlier asked Merchan to recuse himself, claiming that his daughter Loren Merchan’s position at Authentic Campaigns, Inc., a business that buys commercials for Democratic Party politicians, created a conflict of interest.
As reported by the Associated Press, “Trump’s lawyers filed their appeals Monday on two separate court dockets. One was styled as a lawsuit against Merchan, a legal mechanism allowing them to challenge his rulings.”
“In New York, judges can be sued over some judicial decisions under a state law known as Article 78,” the AP noted. “Trump has used the tactic before, including against the judge in his civil fraud case in an unsuccessful last-minute bid to delay that case last fall.”
Trump is accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. Cohen’s activities included paying adult actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Judge Merchan in March granted the prosecution’s motion for a “narrowly tailored” injunction prohibiting Trump from making certain out-of-court remarks, citing the former president’s earlier comments against him and others in the case, as well as an impending trial date of April 15.
“It is without question that the imminency of the risk of harm is now paramount,” Merchan claimed.
Prosecutors sought the gag order, noting Trump’s “long history of making public and inflammatory remarks” about individuals engaged in his legal proceedings.
The gag order does not prohibit statements regarding Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat. However, it bars Trump from accusing crucial players in the case, such as his former lawyer-turned-nemesis Michael Cohen and adult actress Stormy Daniels.
The gag order adds to the limits imposed upon Trump’s arrest in April, which ban him from attacking witnesses using evidence from the case.
Following a hearing Monday in which Merchan set the April 15 trial date, Trump slammed prosecutor Matthew Colangelo on social media, referring to the former Justice Department official as a “radical left from DOJ” sent to the D.A.’s office “to run the trial against Trump and that was done by Biden and his thugs.”
Merchan cited the statement in his decision.
Matthew Colangelo, a former DOJ official in the Biden administration, joined the office of Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg in December 2022 and played a key role in indicting Trump in New York for alleged payments made to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Donald Trump recently slammed the judge presiding over his criminal prosecution.
“Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “In other words, he hates me!”
Trump also remarked on on the judge’s daughter, who is a left-wing activist.
“His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted.
Trump then railed against Merchan for sentencing his longtime accountant Allen Weisselberg to five months in prison after pleading guilty to 15 counts of tax fraud, and the judge will sentence him again on April 10 after pleading guilty to perjury in testimony in the former president’s civil fraud trial.
“He was recently the judge on an unrelated trial of a long term employee, elderly and not in good health,” Trump posted. “This judge treated him viciously, telling him either you cooperate or I’m putting you in jail for 15 years. He pled, and went to jail for very minor offenses, highly unusual, served 4 months in Rikers, and now they are after him again, this time for allegedly lying (doesn’t look like a lie to me!), and they threatened him again with 15 years if he doesn’t say something bad about ‘TRUMP.’ He is devastated and scared!”
“These COUNTRY DESTROYING SCOUNDRELS & THUGS HAVE NO CASE AGAINST ME,” he added. “WITCH HUNT!”
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