Donald Trump baselessly accused Judge Juan Merchan of “making big money” off the embattled ex-president’s criminal hush money trial this week, RadarOnline.com can report.
In the latest development to come shortly before day 17 of Trump’s criminal trial kicked off in Manhattan on Tuesday morning, the former president took to Truth Social to once again attack the judge overseeing the case.
According to Trump, nearly every “legal analyst and scholar” agreed that “there is no case” against him. Trump also called the criminal proceedings a “witch hunt” and accused those involved of “election interference.”
“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!” the 45th president fumed on Truth Social shortly after 7 AM on Tuesday.
“WHY WASN’T THIS HOAX BROUGHT SEVEN YEARS AGO, INSTEAD OF IN THE MIDDLE OF MY WINNING CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT,” Trump continued. “ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
Trump then targeted Judge Merchan. He called the judge “compromised,” “conflicted,” and “corrupt” before claiming that Judge Merchan was “making big money off of this scam and its outcome.”
“The problem is that this Judge, Merchan, is TOTALLY COMPROMISED, CONFLICTED, AND CORRUPT, MAKING BIG MONEY OFF OF THIS SCAM AND ITS OUTCOME,” the embattled ex-president bemoaned.
“He can’t render a fair decision, too much is at stake for him and the Democrats,” Trump concluded his early morning Truth Social post. “The Appellate Division should remove him immediately!”
As RadarOnline.com reported, Trump’s latest Truth Social rant on Tuesday morning came as the criminal hush money case against him continues to develop inside a Manhattan courtroom.
Stormy Daniels appeared in court last Tuesday and Thursday to testify about her alleged affair with Trump in July 2006 and the alleged $130k hush money payment she received shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
Flash forward to Monday morning, and another key witness in the unfolding case – Michael Cohen – took the stand to testify about his role in the criminal matter.
Cohen used the first day of his testimony on Monday to directly tie ex-President Trump to the $130k payment made to Daniels back in October 2016.
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Cohen also insisted that he and Trump paid Daniels off before the 2016 election so that the former adult film star would not interfere with Trump’s chances of winning the White House that year.
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania,” Trump’s former lawyer and fixer testified on Monday. “This was all about the campaign.”
“I had to get this done,” Cohen said during another portion of his testimony. “This would be catastrophic to the campaign.”
Trump’s Truth Social post about the case and Judge Merchan on Tuesday morning also came just days after the judge threatened the ex-president with jail time if a previously imposed gag order was violated for an 11th time.
“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,” Judge Merchan said last week during a hearing about Trump’s multiple gag order violations. “The last thing I want to do is to put you in jail.”
“You are the former president of the United States,” Judge Merchan acknowledged, “and possibly the next president as well.”