The judge in Donald Trump's hush money case has the former president "under his thumb" following Thursday's gag order hearing, a former federal prosecutor has said.
Joyce Vance, a frequent critic of Trump, was reacting to the second such hearing this week.
Writing in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, on Friday, Vance wrote that Merchan's goal "isn't to put Trump in jail, it's to ensure a fair and impartial trial that leads to a jury verdict that, if it's a conviction, will be affirmed on appeal. So, from the judge's perspective, today's proceeding was a win. He's got Trump under his thumb.
"Trump, or at least his lawyers, seem to know that," she added.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Friday.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has continually said that this case and other criminal and civil matters involving him are politically motivated.
The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, two women—adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—to not disclose his alleged affairs with them. He denies affairs with either woman.
On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for nine violations of a gag order that he imposed on Trump to stop him talking about witnesses and jurors in the trial.
On Thursday, prosecutors cited another four alleged violations.
Merchan did not immediately rule on the prosecutors' request for more penalties but he did say that one of the four incidents did not raise any particular concerns.
However, he warned Trump that he may take further action against him and refused to tell Trump's lawyers if Trump could forward other people's posts about the trial in his social media website, Truth Social.
Vance noted that Merchan told Trump's lawyers: "I'm not going to be in the position of looking at posts and determining in advance whether you should or should not post … I think if in doubt, steer clear. That's all I'm going to say."
Vance added that Merchan was "primarily focused on the second allegation, that on April 22, Trump talked about the jury on Real America's Voice, a right-wing streaming, cable and satellite television channel … Trump commented that the 'jury was picked so fast — 95% democrats. The area's mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a—just a purely Democrat area. It's a very unfair situation that I can tell you.'
Trump's lawyers told Merchan that Trump did not violate the gag order as he was not talking about individual jurors.
"The judge was not impressed, reportedly shaking his head and 'looking incredulous" at this line of argument, according to [journalist] Adam Klasfeld," Vance wrote.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
