'This is so dumb': Internet mocks Senator JD Vance for requesting criminal probe into Juan Merchan over Donald Trump's gag orders

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Senator JD Vance is requesting that Justice Juan Merchan of the New York Supreme Court be charged with a crime for enforcing gag orders against the former president Donald Trump during his legal proceedings. 

According to the Ohio Republican, who has been a vocal supporter of the former president, Attorney General Merrick Garland should launch an investigation into Merchan, specifically for depriving Trump of his First Amendment right to free speech. 

What did JD Vance write in his letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland?

“These statutes would seem to have quite a lot to say about the conduct of Juan Merchan, the New York trial judge and Democratic political donor who has set up a kangaroo court for Donald Trump in Manhattan,” Vance wrote in a May 29 letter to Garland, according to The Hill. 

The senator claims that "an investigation is warranted at least," noting that prosecutors from the Justice Department are familiar with the relevant federal statutes, having charged Trump with violating one of them for allegedly plotting to thwart the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

Vance says Merchan’s gag order “has imposed prior restraint on the protected speech of a former president who is now leading presidential polling of the next election.” He also alleged that the judge has made Trump “powerless to question the credibility of witnesses testifying against him.”

He further argued that Merchan has been “shameless” and has “bent over backwards to allow the prosecution to introduce whatever evidence it wants” but “has taken a strong hand against defense evidence at every opportunity.”

“In one ludicrous example, he ruled that President Trump’s lawyers could not even mention to the jury that the prosecution of President Trump is ‘novel, unusual or unprecedented’ – even though by that point liberal law professors, newspapers and former prosecutors had all conceded that the Bragg prosecution depended on a ‘novel interpretation’ of state law,” he wrote.

Juan Merchan has deprived Donald Trump of more than just his First Amendment rights, says JD Vance

Furthermore, according to Vance, the prosecution has urged the judge on multiple occasions to deny Trump his "First Amendment rights in court filings and oral advocacy," suggesting that they may be co-conspirators. He has asked Garland to let him know by June 28 whether the Justice Department will investigate the matter.

“If you will not open an investigation, please let me know whether you will consider issuing a document-retention request to allow a future administration to consider taking up the case,” he wrote in conclusion.

Judge Juan Merchan has previously threatened Donald Trump with jail time

Judge Juan Merchan of Manhattan Criminal Court, who imposed a gag order on the former president to prevent him from speaking out about witnesses, prosecutors, court employees, or the judge's family, has been the target of repeated complaints from Trump regarding his treatment. As a result, it does not prevent him from attacking Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).

Merchan has found Trump in contempt multiple times for violating the order and even threatened to send him to jail over it.

Internet reacts to JD Vance's letter to Merrick Garland 

Netizens slammed Vance after he penned a letter to Garland demanding a criminal investigation over Justice Juan Merchan. One X user tweeted, "JD seems not to know anything about the law." Another wrote, " This is so dumb — gag orders are not unconstitutional, and happen in all kinds of cases, especially high profile, everywhere and have been done for decades." 

"You J D will soon be Toast after Trump!" said one user while another tweeted, "Another performative act founded on disinformation." "Unfortunately, Garland is on Merchan's side..." opined one user. 

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