Trump is Confused Again

Donald Trump has posted a rant about his gag order and appears to be confused about his court proceedings. To be fair, there's a lot to keep track of.

Greetings!

Today, Dementia Don posted a rant on Truth Social (as the stock tanks), complaining that Judge Merchan - the judge presiding over his 34 felony count conviction - has *just ruled* to uphold the gag order in that case. Aside from Donald misspelling his name, let’s talk about how that’s so far off base that it’s hard to tell whether he’s lying or just incompetent - likely both.

First, here’s the Trump screed:

Now, let’s go over the gag order timeline:

On June 11th, Judge Merchan actually NARROWED the gag order after his conviction, allowing Donald to comment on witnesses and jurors since the trial was over, and public comments about witnesses like Cohen and Stormy Daniels would no longer have a negative impact on the proceedings. That’s more than TWO MONTHS ago, and it’s the last time Judge Merchan issued a ruling on the gag order.

Trump appealed that ruling, and then on August 1st - nearly two weeks ago - a five-judge appeals court panel found that Judge Merchan was correct in keeping some restrictions in place until Trump is sentenced because the case is still pending and his conviction doesn’t constitute a change in circumstances that warrants lifting it. (Associated Press)

The “recent ruling” from Judge Merchan that Donald is (maybe) alluding to in his Truth Social post is a ruling handed down yesterday on a motion for Judge Merchan to recuse because his daughter works for a firm that has democrats as clients. If that sounds familiar, that’s because this is Donalds THIRD such motion - which he filed without permission. Judge Merchan writes:

On July 31st, 2024, Defendant filed the instant motion fot recusal - his third such motion. Defendant did not seek leave to file the motion, 48 days after the deadline set by this Court for the filing of post-verdict motions, nor did he seek an extension of time. Defendant justifies this latest motion for recusal on changed circumstances.

Donald actually argued that since Harris is now at the top of the ticket, he should get another bite at the apple.

Perhaps Donald believes this ruling upholds the gag order ruling because his lawyers whined about the unrelated gag order in their third motion for the Judge to recuse, but the ruling has nothing to do with the gag order. Judge Merchan writes:

Defendant appears to present two arguments in his instant motion. Although not entirely clear, Defendant first argues that the Court's Order Restricting Extrajudicial Statements is "unjust and unconstitutional." This argument does not merit extensive discussion since it does not credibly purport to support the motion for recusal. Rather, it would appear to be nothing more than an attempt to air grievances against this Court's rulings. Defendant has litigated this Court's Order Restricting Extrajudicial Statements numerous times, not only with this Court, but with New York's appellate courts as well.

Just because you pitch a hissy fit about another matter in a non-related motion doesn’t mean the Judge has ruled on it in this instance. He’s either confused, or simply creating his own reality so he can publicly complain about other matters.

I’d say it’s a little bit of both.

You can read yesterday’s ruling from Judge Merchan on the recusal motion here, or you can listen to Pete Strzok and I go over it in detail on the next Cleanup on Aisle 45 podcast.

~AG