() President-elect Donald Trump rebuked the judge overseeing his New York porn star case on Tuesday after the judge effectively overruled the U.S. Supreme Court, insisting Trump’s actions while in office were not protected by presidential immunity.
“This illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax. Merchan, who is a radical partisan, wrote an opinion that is knowingly unlawful, goes against our Constitution, and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.
“Merchan has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping in place an illegal gag order on me, your President and President-Elect, just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts,” he added.
JUST IN:
President Trump just SLAMMED Judge Juan Merchan who upheld the 34 felony charges against President Trump yesterday.
Just a reminder that Judge Merchan still has President Trump gagged by an unconstitutional gag order so that President Trump can’t speak about Loren… https://t.co/fTtOEs9nYs pic.twitter.com/TydZBlA7WJ
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 17, 2024
In July, the Supreme Court ruled presidents and former presidents have absolute immunity for actions related to core constitutional powers and presumptive immunity for official actions.
On Monday, however, Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the conviction on grounds of presidential immunity because he said Trump’s actions in the case were unofficial and thus not protected by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.
“The preserved claims relate entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections,” the judge claimed.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office had previously suggested a four-year pause on proceedings in the case until Trump is done with his second term in the White House and the immunity protections no longer apply.
A gag order prevents Trump from discussing witnesses or jurors, but he is free to criticize the judge and Bragg.
Trump called the order “completely illegal” and “psychotic.” He also called the judge “corrupt, biased and incompetent” during his lengthy Truth Social screed.
“This has to stop!” Trump wrote. “It is time to end the Lawfare once and for all, so we can come together as one Nation and, Make America Great Again.”
Trump has repeatedly said his political opponents coordinated the criminal cases against him.
Federal prosecutors have already moved to end two criminal cases against Trump—the election interference case in Washington D.C. and the classified documents case in Florida.
