Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in New York hush-money criminal case

Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.

The former president posted on social media that the gag order was “illegal, un-American, unConstitutional” and said Judge Juan M. Merchan was “wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement" by Democratic rivals.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also laid into Merchan's daughter, a Democratic political consultant, noting that she had posted a photo on social media of him behind bars. An account appearing to belong to Loren Merchan on X, formerly known as Twitter, has a photo illustration of an imprisoned Trump as its profile picture. Loren Merchan's consulting firm had linked to that account in a previous social media post.

The gag order does not bar comments about Merchan or his family, nor does it prohibit Trump from criticizing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the elected Democrat whose office is prosecuting him.