Former President Donald Trump faced questions regarding his baseless attack on Judge Juan Merchan, accusing him of profiting from the trial. Trump’s allegations came in a Truth Social post just hours before his former attorney Michael Cohen resumed his testimony in the Stormy Daniels hush money-election interference trial.
In his post, Trump claimed that legal experts universally agreed there was no case and that the trial should never have occurred. He went on to accuse Judge Merchan of being compromised, conflicted, and corrupt, alleging that he stands to benefit financially from the trial’s outcome.
Virtually every Legal Analyst and Scholar said yesterday, at the end of the day, THAT THERE IS NO CASE, AND THAT THIS WITCH HUNT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN BROUGHT, AND SHOULD BE THROWN OUT NOW!!! WHY WASN’T THIS HOAX BROUGHT SEVEN YEARS AGO, INSTEAD OF IN THE MIDDLE OF MY WINNING CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT — ELECTION INTERFERENCE. The problem is that this Judge, Merchan, is TOTALLY COMPROMISED, CONFLICTED, AND CORRUPT, MAKING BIG MONEY OFF OF THIS SCAM AND ITS OUTCOME. He can’t render a fair decision, too much is at stake for him and the Democrats. The Appellate Division should remove him immediately!
As Trump entered the courtroom, he engaged in a lengthy rant about the trial and praised his supporters. When questioned by a reporter about his attack on Judge Merchan, Trump deflected, focusing instead on the trial’s political nature and criticizing restrictions on speaking by his surrogates. He reiterated his belief that the trial is a scam and claimed it represents unprecedented election interference.
When pressed further about how the judge is allegedly profiting from the case, Trump did not provide any substantiation for his claims and instead reiterated his grievances about restrictions on speaking about the trial.
DONALD TRUMP: He said “this is a sham trial. It’s politically motivated. It’s an assault on the leading candidate for U.S. president.”
I would expect he would say something good, actually, so I won’t go through the rest. But he’s here. He’s going to talk to you.
The Speaker of the House is here. We have Byron Donalds… We have a lot of great people here to talk to you, and they won’t let them speak here. I guess they want to make it difficult for them to speak.
So for some reason, I can speak here, but I’m the only one that’s allowed.
The gag order has to come off. So when you ask me a question about the people that we’re talking about, I’m not allowed to answer. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. It’s a scam. It’s election interference at a level that’s never taken place before.
And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go into the icebox and sit for a long time. Thank you very much.
REPORTER: Mr. Trump, will you testify?
REPORTER: Mr. Trump, what can we expect from cross?
REPORTER: Mr. Trump! How is the judge making money off this case?
