OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Some legal experts have voiced confusion and bewilderment at the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan after he delayed for weeks a ruling on the prosecution’s motion to sanction the former president for allegedly violating a highly restrictive gag order.
Judge Juan Merchan issued the gag order earlier this month after Trump took to social media to point out that Merchan’s daughter is a Democrat activist and was raising funds for Democratic candidates and causes off of his trial. Several legal experts have said since then that such an expansive gag order is virtually unprecedented while pointing out that witnesses for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office are free to speak their minds. Trump has called the order “election interference.”
Merchan has already held one hearing on Trump’s alleged violations of the order and has a second hearing scheduled for Thursday.
During a CNN segment on Monday, former federal prosecutors and current CNN legal analysts Elie Honig and Jeffrey Toobin seemed perplexed by Merchan’s refusal thus far to rule on the matter.
“Part of the reason you have a gag order is you want to stop any sort of bad behavior on the part of the people who were gagged,” Toobin said. “There is a good case that Trump has already violated it, but the judge hasn’t ruled on it yet. Now, it’s like a perpetual motion machine. He keeps violating the gag order more, according to the prosecution, so they keep extending more hearings. There should be a ruling very soon.”
Honig said he agreed with that assessment.
“I’m mystified by this. I mean, I’m officially retired from the art of predicting when this judge is going to rule on this because I think I’ve said every day it has to be today. And I think he’s leaving the door open,” Honig noted. “Judge Merchan’s doing a good job so far. He’s the kind of judge I would’ve liked to appear in front of as a prosecutor. He’s keeping order and efficiency in that courtroom. But this is a blind spot for him. I don’t get what the delay is.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments for extra-marital affairs prior to the 2016 election. Several experts and court observers have said that Bragg essentially created the criminal offenses out of thin air after the prior DA, federal prosecutors, and the Federal Election Commission could not identify any crimes and refused to file charges or sanctions.
Earlier this month, Merchan sided with Trump’s legal team in a ruling that gave them access to jurors’ private information, according to a report by Newsweek.
The outlet reported that Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling comes after more than one prospective juror expressed concerns that their private information had been leaked and their identities revealed.
“Merchan sided with Trump’s attorneys on Thursday, agreeing that it was ‘necessary’ for counsel to know the current and previous employers of the potential jurors, but that those details did not need to be publicized by the press,” the report said.
Manhattan District Attorney’s office prosecutors had proposed that jurors refrain from answering two of the “most identifying” questions on the list. These questions, labeled as 3A and 3, inquire about the juror’s current and prior employers, respectively.
Last week, Trump ripped the fact that he’s required to be in court because it has taken him off the campaign trail.
“I’m supposed to be in New Hampshire, I’m supposed to be in Georgia, I’m supposed to be in North Carolina, in South Carolina, I’m supposed to be a lot of places campaigning. But I’ve been here all day on a trial that really is a very unfair trial. These are all stories, this is from the last few days,” Trump declared.
