Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in a Manhattan state courtroom in New York City, U.S., where he is accused of falsifying business records to conceal payments he made to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. The criminal trial continues.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
This is developing news. Check back throughout the day for updates.
Donald Trump released a then-quickly deleted statement on Tuesday expressing anger at the witness schedule and the judge in his criminal hush-money trial.
The Truth Society post appeared less than a day after Judge Juan Mercand threatened the former president with jail time for repeatedly violating a gag order that prohibited him from talking about potential witnesses at his trial.
Trump was angry that prosecutors did not tell defense attorneys which witnesses they planned to call until the day before they were to testify.
“I was only recently informed who today’s witnesses will be. This is unprecedented and lawyers have had no time to prepare,” Trump wrote in the post.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is hiding witness schedules to prevent Trump from targeting people before they appear in court, prosecutor Joshua Stanglass told Murex on Monday.
But Stanglass noted that while Trump’s lawyers have kept the order of witnesses strictly confidential, they have had the list of witnesses and the list of exhibits they will present in the case for months.
Stanglass accused Trump of forcing the action, noting that he “has been violating orders limiting extrajudicial speech, and we don’t want the witness’s name, the next witness’ name, to be out there.”
Earlier on Monday, Merchin once again found Trump in contempt of court for violating the gag order for the tenth time. He fined Trump up to $1,000 for the latest violation and up to $10,000 for 10 separate violations.
But the judge noted that the fines provided little deterrent to the billionaire Trump.
“The last thing I want to do is put you in jail,” Merchants told Trump. But “if necessary, I will.”
Trump also blasted Merchin in a post he made on Tuesday morning that was later deleted, accusing him of political bias.
“No judge has ever conducted a trial in such a biased and partisan manner,” Trump claimed.
“He is a dishonest and highly conflicted man who has even taken away my First Amendment rights. Now he is threatening me with jail time and they have no case – nearly all legal scholars and experts agree!” Trump Pugh wrote.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly failed to recuse Merchant, arguing that Merchant’s daughter’s work at a Democratic political firm created a conflict of interest.
The gag order prohibits Trump from talking about potential witnesses in the case and from making certain statements to other people involved, including attorneys, court staff and their respective family members.Merchin expands gag order after Trump targets family of judge, DA
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