Former President Donald Trump continued to rip New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Friday for implementing an “unconstitutional” gag order that prevents him from “telling the truth” about the judge, witnesses, and his political opponents, or “real scum,” as he dubbed the latter.
Speaking to reporters before entering the courtroom on day four of his criminal trial in Manhattan, Trump blasted the political nature of his criminal trial, citing 32 “very true” stories of legal experts who say there is no case against Trump.
“They can say anything they want,” Trump said about his political foes. “They can continue to make up lies and everything else. They lie. They’re real scum. But you know what, I’m not allowed to speak.”“So why am I gagged about telling the truth?” Trump questioned. “I’m only telling the truth. They’re not telling the truth. The judge has to take off this gag order. It’s very, very unfair that my constitutional rights have been taken away.”
Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felonies, accusing him of falsifying documents to conceal an alleged sex scandal. The trial is the first-ever criminal trial of a president of the United States. Trump could face jail time if convicted.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (Seth Wenig/AP)
Only about one-third of American adults believe Trump did anything illegal regarding the case, an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found Tuesday.
“This is a case that was put in very strongly because of politics,” Trump continued. “So instead of being in Pennsylvania or Georgia, or North Carolina and lots of other places today, I’m sitting in a courthouse all day long. This is going on for a week, and this will go on for another four or five weeks, and it’s very unfair.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who sat in the courtroom on Thursday, appeared to confirm Trump’s contention that the trial in Manhattan is unfair, acknowledging that most potential jurors lean politically left. In high-publicity court cases, judges and attorneys carefully evaluate “stealth jurors,” individuals who want to be selected for the case to steer the verdict.
“The jurors you have to worry about are the ones who are sort of ‘Trojan horse jurors,’ who are hiding bias that doesn’t appear on social media or are involved in any formal charges like the one that was just removed today,” constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Thursday.
Friday will be the fourth day of the jury selection process, which could wrap up early next week.
A total of 12 jurors and one alternate were selected in the case by Thursday. Five more alternates are needed, for a total of 18.
The case is New York v. Trump, No. 71543-23, in the New York Supreme Court for New York County.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
