Jonathan Turley: It would be ‘easier to move the courthouse than the judge’ in Trump hush-money case
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ with legal analysis of former President Trump’s efforts to recuse Judge Merchan in the New York hush-money case.
Former President Donald Trump's legal team continues to take on the New York judicial system, demanding Judge Juan Merchan's recusal in his upcoming hush-money trial. While the Trump team takes on the courtroom, Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley examined the court of public opinion on "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday, arguing the case "could not be worse" for the country after Merchan's latest gag order.
NEW YORK COURT EXPANDS GAG ORDER AGAINST TRUMP DAYS AFTER FIERY RANT THAT NAMED JUDGE'S DAUGHTER
JONATHAN TURLEY: The optics are horrendous. I mean, this is a very weak case. In my view, it is weaponization of the system. And now you have these gag orders flying right before an election that could turn on the weaponization of the criminal justice system. So this could not be worse for our country. And I think these judges have gone too far with some of these orders.
Merchan expanded a gag order on Monday to keep Trump from commenting on family members of those involved in the proceedings.
New York prosecutors sought clarification last week following posts by Trump in which he attacked Merchan's daughter on his Truth Social platform. The new order prohibits Trump from mentioning family members of the court and prosecutors.
Merchan is presiding over Trump's upcoming trial in which he is accused of making hush-money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign.
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Trump had claimed that Loren Merchan, whose firm has worked on campaigns for President Biden and other Democrats, had recently posted a photo on social media depicting her "obvious goal" of seeing him jailed.
"Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately," he wrote Thursday. "His Daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me."
Trump's legal team has since demanded Merchan recuse himself from the case ahead of trial, which is set to begin April 15.
Fox News' Eric Shawn and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.