Legal experts expose the insidious design behind Trump’s attacks on judges’ family members

02 April 2024

Justice Juan Merchan is the third judge to impose a partial gag order on former President Donald Trump in a court case in the last six months.

After ruling that Trump is not allowed to attack witnesses, prosecutors or court staff in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money case, Merchan expanded the gag order to include members of Merchan and Bragg's families. The expansion came after Trump railed against Merchan's daughter.

Merchan wrote, "The average observer, must now, after hearing Defendant's recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well. Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself."

Previously, Trump has faced gag orders from Justice Arthur Engoron in New York State Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud case and from Judge Tanya Chutkan in special counsel Jack Smith's federal election interference case.

In an article published on April 2, Politico reporters Erica Orden and Meridith McGraw examine the motivations behind Trump's responses to gag orders — responses that, according to some interviewees, are "strategic," not random.

"Every time prosecutors and judges tried to muzzle Donald Trump," Orden and McGraw explain, "he lashed out at their families. In three different court cases over the past six months, judges imposed gag orders that restrained the former president from vilifying witnesses, court employees and others involved in the proceedings against him. In each case, Trump responded by verbally attacking not only the prosecutors and judges themselves, but also, their family members."

Ty Cobb, who served as a White House lawyer during Trump's presidency, told Politico that Trump's attacks on family members of judges or prosecutors are "clearly strategic" and "designed around his traditional approach to delegitimizing the proceedings."

Trump and his lawyers have claimed that the gag orders against him are a violation of his First Amendment rights, but U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton argues that Trump's attacks on judges, prosecutors and their family members are dangerous.

Walton, in late March 29, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins, warned, "It's very disconcerting to have someone making comments about a judge. And it's particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they're directed at one's family…. It is an attack on the rule of law when judges are threatened, and particularly when their family is threatened."

Read Politico's full report at this link.

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