Trump slams judge over expanded gag order
Donald Trump hit out on Tuesday at a judge for extending a gag order preventing him from attacking those involved in his upcoming hush money trial, calling it "election interference" as his lawyers sought the jurist's recusal. On Monday, the judge presiding over Trump's trial for allegedly making election-eve payments to a porn star expanded the gag order against him to include comments about family members of the magistrate and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The original gag order from last week barred Trump from commenting on potential witnesses, lawyers and court staff. The expansion of the order came after the Republican presidential candidate lashed out at Judge Juan Merchan and his daughter in a series of posts on Truth Social. "I just was informed that another corrupt New York Judge, Juan Merchan, GAGGED me so that I can not talk about the corruption and conflicts taking place in his courtroom," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "They can talk about me, but I can't talk about them??? That sounds fair, doesn't it? "This Judge should be recused, and the case should be thrown out. "ELECTION INTERFERENCE at its worst!" In his order on Monday, Merchan said Trump's "pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose." "It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are 'fair game' for defendant's vitriol." Trump's legal team said in a filing that it was seeking to have the judge recuse himself from the case because his daughter worked for a political consultancy that had worked for the Democratic Party of US President Joe Biden. "Your Honor has an interest in this case that warrants recusal," their court filing read. Trump faces charges of falsifying business records for payments made by his lawyer Michael Cohen on the eve of the 2016 presidential election to porn star Stormy Daniels to make sure she did not publicize a sexual encounter. The case will kick off on April 15, and is the first ever criminal trial of a former president. Asked by reporters if he would take the witness stand, Trump has said he "would have no problem testifying." Trump now has four criminal indictments to his name and faces 88 felony counts for a wide variety of alleged criminality. (AFP)