Donald Trump on Tuesday condemned Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to allow the jury’s verdict in the hush money case to stand, calling it “unlawful” and “psychotic.” Trump’s comments came after Merchan ruled that the case could continue, despite a Supreme Court decision earlier this year that generally shields former presidents from criminal prosecution.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump slammed the judge for disrespecting the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. He argued that, regardless of the Court’s decision, the case against him was “illegitimate.”
“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 raged. “But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax.”
He added: “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. 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.”
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have immunity for actions taken as part of their official duties, and they are largely protected from legal action in other areas as well.
However, Judge Merchan ruled that the evidence in the case did not involve Trump’s official duties as president, so he did not qualify for immunity. The judge also rejected other parts of the case after reviewing them.
Trump, who has been elected president again, is hoping to have the case dismissed entirely. He has accused Judge Merchan of being biased and incompetent, calling the decision “completely illegal.”
The New York hush money case is the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president and remains the only one to reach trial. Trump is also facing other legal challenges, but those cases have stalled or been dismissed in the months following his Election Day win.
