President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed the New York judge who oversaw his “hush money” trial as “biased” and a “radical partisan” for refusing to toss out the case.
Trump, 78, took aim at Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan over his Monday decision to uphold the Republican’s conviction despite the US Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling.
“BREAKING: In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in his first statement about the ruling.
“But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax. Merchan, who is a radical partisan, wrote an opinion that is knowingly unlawful, goes against our Constitution, and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it,” Trump posted.
“Merchan has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping in place an illegal gag order on me, your President and President-Elect, just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts….”
Merchan ruled that he would not toss Trump’s 34-count conviction for now, rejecting the incoming president’s argument that the case should be dismissed given the Supreme Court ruling that he enjoys “absolute” immunity for acts committed in office.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued the case — in which Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records after paying former porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their apparent sexual tryst ahead of the 2016 election — was not impacted by the high court decision because the acts happened before the real estate mogul was in the White House.
“The People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch,” Merchan said in his opinion on Monday.
A judge last month dismissed Trump’s four-count federal indictment relating to efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Special Counsel Jack Smith withdrew his efforts to bring back the classified documents case against Trump.
That means the incoming president is left with the Georgia 2020 election case against him and his sentencing on the hush money conviction hanging over his head as Inauguration Day approaches.
“Today’s decision by deeply conflicted, acting Justice Merchan in the Manhattan DA Witch Hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said Monday after Merchan’s ruling.
