Trump’s Latest Appointment in Hush Money Case Circumvents Gag Order

With his first criminal trial looming just 10 days away, former President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on the judge presiding over the case, pushing the boundaries of a gag order issued against him.

In a motion filed by Trump’s legal team earlier this week, they demanded that Judge Juan Merchan recuse himself from the New York hush money case due to “appearances of impropriety” stemming from his daughter’s work with a company that does political marketing for Democratic campaigns.

The motion, totaling 35 pages with 119 pages of exhibits, comes after Merchan expanded the existing gag order on Trump to include prohibiting him from making public comments about the judge’s family or that of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump had previously argued that Merchan’s daughter’s work made him unable to preside over the trial impartially.

Trump appears to be testing the limits of the gag order by including his criticism of the judge’s daughter in public court filings and promoting them. The filing highlights Loren Merchan’s involvement with a political marketing company that has worked with Democratic campaigns.

In response, Bragg’s office dismissed Trump’s claims as a “daisy chain of innuendos” and stated that a judge’s impartiality should not be questioned based on the political activities of their relatives.

The trial, set to begin on April 15, accuses Trump of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal involving Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump is also facing charges in three other criminal cases, including attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and inciting the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021.