Trump skewered for posting criticism of Judge Juan Merchan's daughter's Democract links despite gag order

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Former President Donald Trump has come under scrutiny for his online criticism of the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the Stormy Daniels hush money criminal case in a New York court.

This occurred just hours after Judge Merchan imposed a gag order prohibiting the former POTUS from targeting family members.

The 77-year-old MAGA figurehead, who has been previously fined for violating a gag order in his New York civil fraud case, posted a six-minute video featuring televised criticism coming from Fox News host Brian Kilmeade and George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley.

In the video, Kilmeade expressed apprehension about Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter's affiliation with an online digital advocacy firm that has several Democratic clients, according to DailyMail.

What did Kilmeade and Turley say in the video Trump posted?

Host Brian Kilmeade brought up a "dispute on whether she did have a picture up on a website with Donald Trump behind bars," alluding to an assertion made by Trump himself on Truth Social.

Referencing one of the firm's accounts, Kilmeade continued, "Also, the fact is, the judge's daughter is an activist who works for Kamala Harris."

“That, to me, is something that if I'm Donald Trump, I'm concerned about the judge has a daughter who feels this way,” the Fox News host asserted.

Kilmeade further referred to the recently expanded gag order as "outrageous."

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, then added that he has "opposed gag orders for years," calling the current one a "really controversial order" and "wrong."

Turley argued that he would “prefer that Trump leave these attacks, or these issues raised with the judge's family to his counsel. I think that's always the better approach.”

After being turned down in his first attempt to have Judge Merchan recuse himself from the case in August, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche did, in fact, file a second request on Tuesday.

What did Judge Juan Merchan rule on Monday?

Merchan expanded the gag order at the request of prosecutors in response to Trump's comments on Loren Merchan.

In his own filing this week, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, attacked Donald Trump for uploading the photo of Loren Merchan, the judge’s daughter, claiming that his accusations are founded on "transparent falsehoods."

In other posts, Trump mentioned Loren Merchan by name and shared pictures of her during the weekend.

Calling it a "fraudulent impersonation," DA Bragg referenced an article in which Trump is accused of disseminating an "apparent hoax."

District Attorney Bragg further brought up Trump's attacks on his spouse on the internet, branding her as "Trump-hating" after she wrote about how Trump had been "nailed."

Under Merchan's initial gag order, Trump was not allowed to mention prosecutors, court employees, or relatives.

His amended order forbade insults directed toward the judge's family members.

“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Justice Merchan stated in his ruling. “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.”

He added that Trump “is hereby warned that any violation of this Order will result in sanctions” under the Judiciary Law, a statute that stipulates fines and imprisonment.

Internet slams Trump for sharing pictures of Judge Merchan's daughter

People online have joined in on the discussion and had some choice words for the presumptive 2024 GOP nominee for attacking the judge's daughter online.

One person commented, "All trump has at this point is hyper-emotive fear mongering. Terrible economic policies, banning medical procedures for women and withdrawing from the world stage don’t seem to resonate so he’d rather not discuss them openly."

Another wrote, "Laws are not made to be broken...President , Lawyers or not...breaking National and State Laws are punishable...punish him already !"

Someone else said, "He actually needs to be jailed. He keeps doing this stuff because he thinks he’s above the law and he never faces any actually consequences for his actions. Charge him with contempt and put him in jail for a few days. Simply threatening him and doing nothing when he fails to comply only enables him.If it was anyone else they’d be in jail."

One person remarked, "The more publicity Trump gets, the more voters remember what he was like. He's been hidden away on his hilariously bad Truth Social, screaming in all caps to the half a dozen or so users or on cult TV giving his acolytes what they want to hear - now he's broken out into the mainstream and guess what, he's more insane than ever."

Another individual claimed, "He's compulsive. The man cannot keep his gob shut."

Someone else commented, "Don the Con's cell awaits him."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.