Trump Criticizes Judges Presiding Over Civil and Criminal Cases

Former President Donald Trump is awaiting a judge’s ruling on whether he violated a Christmas order, and he believes he should be removed from his case.

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, expressed his opinion that Judge Juan Merchan, overseeing the business records trial in Manhattan, should be immediately replaced.

“We have a biased judge who is favoring the Democrat Party,” Trump stated.

Trump suggested that the Appellate Court should take over his criminal case, which he believes should not have been brought in the first place. Trump is facing accusations of falsifying records to hush an adult film actress before the 2016 election regarding an alleged affair.

Last month, Merchan prohibited Trump from making public comments about witnesses and court staff involved in the trial. The order was amended this month to also include family members after Trump criticized Loren Merchan, the judge’s daughter and a Democrat political consultant.

The gag order does not prevent Trump from criticizing Merchan or Manhattan Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg’s office filed a motion last week to hold Trump in contempt for recent Truth Social posts that supposedly violated Merchan’s gag order. Bragg’s team claims Trump has violated the order at least with 10 posts.

Merchan held a hearing on Trump’s possible violation of the gag order on Tuesday.

Trump also criticized Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw his civil fraud trial and imposed a $475 million penalty after determining that Trump dishonestly inflated his net worth and real estate assets to deceive financial institutions and insurers.

“Corrupt Judge Engoron…was aware that I did nothing wrong but still unfairly fined me…despite lacking knowledge about valuation, finance, or anything related,” Trump wrote.

Trump also denounced the judge who presided over the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.

A federal jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages after agreeing with the former Elle magazine advice columnist that Trump had defamed her in June 2019 by denying the rape allegation.

“Judge [Lewis] Kaplan…permitted an unknown woman, who I have never met (a celebrity photo opportunity doesn’t count!) and know nothing about, to secure an unjust judgment of $90 million,” Trump said. “New York’s judicial system is in disarray, and only the Appellate Courts can remedy this. A Republican doesn’t stand a chance. This is not justice.”