Despite not having any criminal proceedings in his hush money trial on Wednesday, Donald Trump spent the day complaining about the judge presiding over his case.
At a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan, Trump stated of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, “I don’t think there’s ever been a more conflicted judge — crooked and conflicted. And I’m unconstitutionally gagged.”
Merchan fined the former president $9,000 on Tuesday for breaking the terms of a gag order pertaining to his case, which forbade him from discussing jurors, attorneys, witnesses, court employees, and their families in public. Merchan cautioned Trump that “jail may be a necessary punishment” if he persisted in breaking the provisions of the gag order.
During his rally, Trump made up the lie that the gag order was meant to prevent him from talking to his supporters about anything other than the trial.
On his day off from court, Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan.
The presumed GOP presidential candidate declared, “He gagged me, so I’m not even supposed to be talking to you because he gagged me!”
Read Also: Biden Commits to Debate: Trump vs. Biden Round Two?
“I have a judge who gagged me! I’m not allowed to talk about things,” he further added.
After prosecutors brought up Trump’s “long history of making public and inflammatory remarks” about individuals connected to his legal proceedings, Merchan first put the president under the gag order in March.
He was not allowed to discuss witnesses, prosecutors, court employees, or jurors under the initial injunction.
Merchan extended it a few weeks later to include the families of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as well as his own, following Trump’s bogus accusations against Merchan’s daughter on social media.
Trump claimed during his rally on Wednesday that the trial is a joke and that it is just making him more popular.
“What you’re witnessing in New York is not a legal proceeding,” he stated. “It’s an unlawful exercise in very stupid and very evil politics. But here’s the good news. It’s driven the poll numbers higher than we’ve ever had before. Because people get it ― it’s a scam.”
