Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have violated his gag order on the very first day of his New York ‘hush money’ trial, according to a report by DailyMailOnline. During an interview on Steve Bannon’s network, Real America’s Voice, Trump attacked the jury, despite Judge Juan Merchan’s order barring him from making such statements.
“That jury was picked so fast.” 95 percent are Democrats. The area is mostly Democratic. You think of it as a purely Democratic area. It’s a very unfair situation that I can tell you,” Trump said during the interview, directly violating the judge’s order not to make any public statements about jurors sitting on his trial.
Judge Merchan has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday morning to address the prosecutors’ claims that Trump has breached his gag order and warrants contempt. The hearing will take place outside of the jury’s presence, and Trump may face fines or jail time if found to be in violation.
New York prosecutors had previously argued that Trump was attempting to intimidate potential witnesses and urged Justice Merchan to clarify that his existing gag order also applies to family members.
This came after a March 28 social media post by Trump in which he called Merchan’s daughter a ‘Rabid Trump Hater’ and demanded the judge’s removal from the case.
Trump’s lawyers have unsuccessfully sought to remove Merchan from the case, citing his daughter’s work as a digital marketer for Democratic candidates and non-profits as a conflict of interest. However, a state court ethics panel found that Loren Merchan’s work had no bearing on the judge’s impartiality.
Despite the gag order, Trump has criticized it, claiming that it violates his First Amendment rights. After Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked a New York judge to consider his request, the order was expanded.
