Former President Trump sued the New York judge overseeing his hush money case Monday over the gag order he imposed on the former president — an eleventh-hour bid to delay the trial which is scheduled to begin next week.
Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order bars Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family, but doesn’t stop him from hurling insults at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) or the judge himself.
The documents were placed under seal, though several outlets have reported that they pertain to the gag order. The Hill requested comment from Trump's lawyers and his campaign regarding the lawsuit, which essentially functions as an appeal of the gag order.
Merchan cited Trump’s “uncontested record” of attacks on those involved in his legal matters in his original order curbing the former president’s speech. He originally refrained from gagging Trump, instead choosing to admonish him, but agreed to do so after Bragg’s office requested it last month.
Weeks later, the judge expanded his order to include attacks against his family and Bragg’s family following a series of posts Trump made about the judge’s daughter, who works at a progressive political consulting firm.
Merchan’s daughter, Loren, is an executive at the digital agency Authentic, which boasts clients including prominent Democrats President Biden, Vice President Harris and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y).
Loren Merchan is also the subject of the former president’s efforts to recuse the judge from the case — an effort he has mounted twice. The most recent bid came Friday, when Trump asked the judge to recuse because his daughter has a “direct financial interest” in the former president’s case, given the firm’s work for his 2024 presidential election opponents.
The long-shot lawsuit against Merchan comes just a week before Trump is scheduled to head to trial in his New York criminal case on April 15. The former president faces 34 charges linked to hush money payments made by his ex-fixer to porn actress Stormy Daniels with the aim of covering up an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.
A New York appeals judge could preliminarily rule on Trump’s lawsuit against Merchan as soon as Monday, before the matter goes to a full five-judge panel to consider the request.
Trump previously employed the tactic in his New York civil fraud trial, during which a different Manhattan judge imposed a similar gag order. The bid was appealed to New York’s highest court and denied.
Trump has sought to delay his Manhattan criminal trial and the other three criminal cases against him until after the 2024 election, in which he is the GOP’s presumptive nominee, which could put all of them on ice.
If the hush money trial proceeds as planned, it will mark Trump’s first criminal trial and the first criminal trial of any former U.S. president.
The Associated Press contributed.