Loose Cannon

Trump Keeps Slamming Judge His Own Lawyer Has ‘No Issue With’

The former president's repeated attacks on Judge Juan Merchan could give Alvin Bragg grounds to slap him with an obstruction charge

April 3, 2023

DALLAS, TEXAS - AUGUST 06: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on August 06, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. CPAC began in 1974, and is a conference that brings together and hosts conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders in discussing current events and future political agendas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on August 06, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. CPAC began in 1974, and is a conference that brings together and hosts conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders in discussing current events and future political agendas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Donald Trump can’t stop bashing the judge who will preside over the Manhattan district attorney’s case against the former president.

“The Corrupt D.A. has no case,” he wrote Sunday night on Truth Social. “What he does have is a venue where it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to get a Fair Trial (it must be changed!), and a Trump Hating Judge, hand selected by the Soros backed D.A. (he must be changed!). Also has the DOJ working in the D.A.’s Office – Unprecedented!”

The judge, Juan Merchan, is the same judge who handled the case against the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg. The Trump Organization was found guilty of criminal tax fraud in December, and Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to a scheme involving untaxed benefits. Trump claimed on Friday that Merchan “HATES” him, and that he “railroaded” Weisselberg while treating his companies “VICIOUSLY.” Bloomberg reported on Saturday that Trump’s legal team has been considering asking for the trial to be moved to the more-conservative Staten Island.

Joe Tacopina, one of Trump’s lawyers working on the case, doesn’t seem to have a problem with Merchan. “I have no issue with this judge whatsoever,” Tacopina said Sunday on CNN. “He has a very good reputation.”

“Do I think the judge is biased? Of course not,” Tacopina added while speaking to George Stephanopolous on ABC News.

Tacopina nodding to Merchan is probably a more prudent course of action than Trump’s allegations of bias, as there’s little chance the case will be moved, and the attacks — as well as his repeated attacks against Bragg — could be grounds for Bragg to charge Trump with obstruction. “I think if I were his lawyer … I would be mindful of not committing some other criminal offense like obstruction of governmental administration, which is interfering, by threat or otherwise, with the operation of government,” Cy Vance, who preceded Bragg as Manhattan district attorney, told NBC News on Sunday.

Trump will travel from Mar-a-Lago to Manhattan on Monday and be arraigned before Merchan on Tuesday. Merchan has yet to unseal the indictment, but Trump is expected to be charged with several counts related to a $130,000 payment to keep porn star Stormy Daniels quiet about her alleged affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election.

Rolling Stone reported last month that Trump’s attorneys have been preparing him to lose the case and fight the verdict on appeal.