Former President Trump claimed Friday that the judge handling his silence case was trying to make the trial “as salacious as possible,” even as Trump’s own lawyers tried to undermine a witness by bringing up celebrity scandals.
“This corrupt and highly confrontational New York judge, Juan Merchan, is doing everything in his power to make this trial as salacious as possible, even though these things have NOTHING to do with this FAKE case,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Upon arriving at the court, Trump again pointed to judge Juan Merchan in his statements to journalists before the start of the process, calling him “highly confrontational”.
“He’s trying to make it as salacious as possible by allowing testimony that has nothing to do with the case,” Trump said. “He wants to make this a salacious affair to try to harm Trump. But it is having the opposite effect.”
Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case is inherently salacious, as it centers on a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, intended to prevent her from going public with her story of an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump has denied the case and his lawyers have noted that the hush money payments are not illegal in themselves and that the former president did nothing wrong.
The trial took a detour Thursday into a celebrity scandal graveyard as Trump’s lawyer tried to diminish the credibility of Keith Davidson, a lawyer who represented two women who received hush money during Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Trump lawyer Emil Bove suggested that Davidson regularly sought out salacious stories. He mentioned how Davidson was previously investigated for extortion over his relationships with celebrities.
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