Donald Trump is fighting back.
On Thursday, the presumptive Republican nominee announced that his legal team in the ongoing hush money trial has filed a motion to appeal Judge Juan Merchan’s “unconstitutional” gag order.
“I just want to let you know that we’ve just filed a major motion in the appellate division concerning the absolutely unconstitutional gag order, where I’m essentially not allowed to talk to you about anything meaningful that’s going on in the case. And many good things are going on with the case. It shouldn’t have been filed,” he said.
The gag order which was imposed in March prohibits Trump from from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the judge’s family. The gag order does not prevent Trump from attacking the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).
The judge in the case has ruled Trump has violated the order 10 times, resulting in a total of $10,000 in fines, and threatened jail time if Trump continues to violate the order.
Trump also read legal experts’ commentary on the case to members of the media on Thursday, when legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley slammed the trial.
“‘This is a Frankenstein case. They took a dead misdemeanor, they attached it to a dead, alleged federal felony and zapped it back into life. So many of us are just amazed to watch this actually walk into court because it’s not a recognizable crime that any of us have seen,” Trump said, quoting Fox News contributor Turley.
“‘I’ve been doing this for 60 years, and I don’t understand what crime he’s been charged with. Nobody understands this. I just don’t get the crime. There’s no evidence of any crime whatsoever. This is a sham,'” Trump continued, quoting Dershowitz.
Trump is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
On Tuesday, Trump’s team filed for a mistrial after Daniel’s shocking testimony. The move was denied.
