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Jury selection starts Monday in Donald Trump‘s New York hush money trial, and the former president spent the weekend launching repeated attacks against the judge, prosecutors, and potential witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney.
Trump called Judge Juan Merchan “the most highly conflicted Judge in New York State history” in a Truth Social post on Sunday morning. He additionally claimed without evidence that District Attorney Alvin Bragg “illegally hid, disguised, and held back [documents] from us.”
On Saturday, Trump claimed that the D.A.’s office is “corrupt and wanted to use it for purposes of Election Interference against Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent!” And he wrote that Merchan is “totally conflicted and corrupt.”
Merchan issued a gag order in March barring Trump from attacking possible witnesses “concerning their potential participation” in the trial. Before the gag order was issued, Trump’s lawyers were attempting to “prevent him from talking his way into a mess,” one Trump adviser told Rolling Stone.
But Trump on Saturday named his former fixer Michael Cohen — who is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution — in a Truth Social post accusing Cohen of lying. Cohen himself has admitted he lied to Congress in 2017 about Trump’s plans to develop real estate in Moscow. Cohen has also admitted to cutting a $130,000 check to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf in exchange for her silence regarding the affair she had with Trump. That payment is the reason for his upcoming trial.
“Has disgraced attorney and felon Michael Cohen been prosecuted for LYING?” Trump wrote on Saturday. (The answer is yes, and Cohen pleaded guilty.)
Two weeks ago, Trump attacked Merchan’s daughter in a Truth Social post that included photos of her. He has attacked Merchan’s daughter twice before.
Trump last week asked for an indefinite delay in the trial due in part to what the defense claimed was “exceptionally prejudicial” media coverage ahead of the case. Merchan denied the request.
“The remedy that Defendant seeks is an indefinite adjournment. This is not tenable,” Merchan wrote in response on Friday, noting that Trump himself has drummed up press coverage of the trial. “The situation Defendant finds himself in now is not new to him and at least in part, of his own doing.”
Trump “appears to take the position that his situation and this case are unique and that the pre-trial publicity will never subside. However, this view does not align with reality,” Merchan added, noting that questioning potential jurors will address their ability to be impartial.
If Trump is convicted of a felony in this or any other trial ahead of the election, it’s possible that would disqualify him from being able to vote for himself in November.
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