Trump was 'fuming' after Judge Merchan made him sit 'like a man addressing his dog': report

19 April 2024

As the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump isn't used to being reminded that he's now a criminal defendant. He got one stark reminder from Judge Juan Merchan on Friday, according to a new report.

The Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery reported that during Friday's jury selection, Merchan had to tell Trump to sit down after he abruptly stood up before the judge finished his sentence. Merchan had just gotten through more than an hour of back-and-forth arguments with both the prosecution and the defense about a contempt hearing scheduled for next week, where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is alleging that Trump has repeatedly violated the court's gag order.

"Merchan turned his face to the former president and said in a firm voice: 'Sir, can you please have a seat,'" Pagliery wrote. "His long, black robes dangled from beneath his right hand as he waved it down, like a man addressing his dog."

Pagliery, who was present during the hearing, wrote that Trump then "went and plopped straight back down into his maroon leather chair at the defense table—and remained for another minute, fuming as the judge gathered his paperwork and strolled toward his chambers."

Merchan's contempt hearing will be held early next week. Bragg's office asking for the maximum allowable fine of $1,000 for each specific violation of the gag order meant to prevent Trump from attacking witnesses, court staff and their families. They also want Trump to be ordered to delete posts to his Truth Social platform attacking witnesses like Michael Cohen — Trump's longtime former personal attorney and fixer — and adult film star and producer Stormy Daniels.

Manhattan prosecutors have also asked for Merchan to consider incarcerating Trump for violating the gag order if he continues his behavior. Trump's lawyers, in the meantime, have argued that their client's social media posts are simply reposting statements others have made, and that Trump sharing others' words doesn't violate the exact language of the gag order.

The former president's first of four criminal trials will officially kick off on Monday, after all 12 jurors and six alternates were empaneled during this week's voir dire process. The trial is expected to take anywhere from four to six weeks, with prosecutors attempting to convict Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The charge of falsifying business records is typically only a misdemeanor in New York. However, Bragg argued when issuing his indictment that the payments were made in order "to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."

According to Bragg, Trump's payments to Cohen — who paid Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence and was then reimbursed by Trump — constituted an illegal campaign expenditure, as the payment was done in the furtherance of Trump's campaign. The payment to Cohen was labeled a retainer for legal fees, though Cohen maintains that there was no such retainer and that Trump knowingly made the payment to Cohen as a hush money reimbursement.

For his role in the scheme and other crimes, Cohen served a three-year federal prison sentence between 2018 and 2021. He has repeatedly said he doesn't want to be a witness in the hush money cover-up trial, and that he is only appearing because he was subpoenaed.

Click here to read Pagliery's full report in the Daily Beast (subscription required).

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