In his latest social media rant, President-elect Donald Trump criticized Judge Juan Merchan for his new ruling in his New York hush money case.
In a Monday decision, Merchan rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss his conviction in the hush money case because of a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity earlier this year. This is the latest blow to the president-elect in getting his hush money conviction dismissed as he is slated to start his second term next month.
Trump lashed out at Merchan over the ruling on Tuesday, saying that the judge has “completely disrespected” the Supreme Court’s decision. In July, the Supreme Court granted widespread presidential immunity, ruling that former presidents could not be prosecuted for official acts taken while in office.
“In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity. But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax. Merchan, who is a radical partisan, wrote an opinion that is knowingly unlawful, goes against our Constitution, and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He went on to repeat familiar claims that the hush money case was a “witch hunt” brought against him and that it should have never been brought in the first place. He said Merchan is “far worse and even more corrupt” than special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal cases against Trump last year.
Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records earlier this year in New York in connection to a payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair. He has denied the affair and any wrongdoing.
His sentencing in the case has been postponed until further notice as Trump’s lawyers continue to try to dismiss the case.
In Monday’s ruling, Merchan denied the bulk of Trump’s claims that some of prosecutors’ evidence related to official acts and implicated immunity protections.
The judge said that even if he found that some evidence related to official conduct, he’d still conclude that prosecutors’ decision to use “these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch.”
Even if prosecutors had erroneously introduced evidence that could be challenged under an immunity claim, Merchan continued, “such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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