Trump slams Judge Merchan for setting sentencing date in Stormy Daniels case

The insistence of Judge Juan Merchan on issuing a sentence that would make Donald Trump the first US president with a criminal conviction has made the president-elect explode on social networks. The tycoon posted on his Truth Social account, harshly attacking the judge for his decision, accusing him of being a "radical partisan" whose family's conflict of interest with the Democratic Party has led him to go ahead with this "rigged charade" against him despite "attacking the Constitution" and the figure of the presidency.

Trump began by noting that "every jurist and expert, including the highly respected, and sadly recently deceased, David Rivkin, as well as Jonathan Turley, Elie Honig, Andy McCarthy, Alan Dershowitz, Gregg Jarrett, Elizabeth Price Foley, Katie and Andy Cherkasky, Paul Ingrassia and many others, have unequivocally stated that the Manhattan DA's witch hunt is a non-existent case, which is not only barred by the Statute of Limitations, but which, on the merits, should never have been brought."

"The end of the Presidency as we know it"

However, Merchan chose not only to accept the case, but has insisted on going ahead with "this illegitimate political attack,"which "is nothing more than a rigged charade" despite the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity and Donald Trump's presidential victory. The president-elect denounced that "Merchan took the Bragg Hoax that, according to all Legal Scholars, should have been dead on arrival and, through his fraud and misconduct, gave it a semblance of 'life'."

Trump also stressed that the judge's decision to keep in place the gag order against him, preventing him from freely defending himself, amounts to "a despicable First Amendment violation."

"'Acting' Justice Merchan, who is a radical partisan, just issued another order 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. I am the only Political Opponent in American History not allowed to defend myself - A despicable First Amendment Violation!"

Merchan: "far worse and even more corrupt than Smith"

In a second post, Trump lamented that Merchan is going even further than special prosecutor Jack Smith in "his fight for my desperate Political Opponents." The president-elect hinted that his daughter's relationship with the Democratic Party is behind the judge's insistence on pursuing him:

"While Deranged Jack Smith was “sent packing” back to The Hague, after losing all of his politically manufactured cases against me, Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than Smith in his fight for my hopeless Political Opponents, just cannot let go of this charade. Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law?" 

In closing, Trump demanded a stop to this situation, "This has to stop! It's time to end Lawfare once and for all, so that we can come together as one nation and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"