Judge Merchan is showing everyone how to respond to Trump’s 'incessant lies': legal experts

07 May 2024

Former President Donald Trump has been a peddler of disinformation for years, with the Washington Post tallying more than 30,000 "false or misleading claims" since the start of his presidency. But legal experts are now saying Trump may have met his match in Judge Juan Merchan.

Trump has repeatedly (and falsely) said he wants to take the witness stand in his own defense, but that he is unable to do so due to a gag order Merchan imposed ahead of trial proceedings. Of course, the gag order only prevents Trump from attacking witnesses, court staff and their families, and does not muzzle Trump from defending himself on the stand if he chooses to do so.

In a recent column for MSNBC, lawyer and diplomat Norman Eisen — the former impeachment counsel to the House Judiciary Committee — along with former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and Samara Angel of the Brookings Institution broke down how Merchan has decided to respond to the former president's false claims about his gag order. The authors noted that Merchan did three things to deftly redirect the court's attention away from Trump's claims, reinforce the truth and "offered the dozens of journalists in the courtroom some pointers on how to deal with Trump’s incessant lies."

"First, he reaffirmed the law: 'I want to stress to Mr. Trump: You have an absolute right to testify at trial.' Next, the judge did not quote or even paraphrase Trump’s falsehood, which would have risked amplifying it and spreading it further. Instead, he focused on the truth, noting correctly that the gag order has nothing to do with his testimony," Eisen, McQuade and Angel wrote.

"Finally, the judge made his remarks in an even-tempered fashion that maintained order in the proceedings. Disinformation is designed to inflame emotions, but Merchan refused to take the bait," they added. "The judge then moved on matter-of-factly to decide other routine evidentiary matters before the court, ruling in Trump’s favor on one of them — further proof that he had been unaffected by the disinformation."

McQuade defined disinformation as "the deliberate spread of false information with bad intent," and argued that both Trump and Blanche were spreading it.

"It is clear they know this information is false, and they spread it to try to manipulate the electorate’s perceptions to their advantage," the column read.

Trump was found in violation of the gag order nine times, with prosecutors pointing to several posts Trump made to his Truth Social platform in which he posted text and links to articles naming and attacking witnesses. Trump paid the maximum allowable fine of $1,000 for each violation, and Merchan didn't rule out temporary incarceration for future violations.

On Monday, Merchan found Trump in violation of the gag order for a 10th time. He once again threatened to jail Trump should he continue to attack witnesses. Should Trump have to be jailed, it's likely that the permanent Secret Service detail he enjoys for the rest of his life as a former president would have to follow him inside should he be incarcerated.

Click here to read Eisen, McQuade and Angel's column in full.

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