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Donald Trump began attacking the family of the judge presiding over his New York suit.
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Trump called Judge Juan Merchan and his family “Trump-hating” on Tuesday night.
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Hours before, the judge warned him not to make any comments that could endanger the safety of others.
Former President Donald Trump verbally attacked the family of the judge overseeing his Manhattan arraignment on Tuesday, hours after the same judge warned him not to make comments that could endanger others.
“This is where we are now. I have a Trump-hating judge, with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign,” Trump said, referring to judge Juan Mercan.
Trump did not substantiate the claims he made about Merchan and his family.
The former president addressed his supporters at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago resort in his first public remarks after being charged in New York.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, filed against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s comments blasting Merchan came six hours after Merchan warned the former president not to make comments that “could jeopardize the safety or well-being of any person.”
“Please refrain from making comments or conduct that could incite violence, cause civil unrest, or endanger the safety or well-being of individuals,” Mercan told Trump’s lawyers.
The judge issued this warning to both sides and asked prosecutors to remind their witnesses not to make inflammatory public statements. Merchan encouraged Trump’s defense team to do the same with Trump and “anyone who needs it.”
That didn’t stop Trump from finishing Merchan and his family hours later.
The former president recalled Tuesday night as Merchan presided over the Trump Organization criminal trial in which Allen Weisselberg, the company’s former CFO, pleaded guilty to financial crimes and testified.
“What the prosecutors and judges did to that man I will never forget because it comes straight out of the old Soviet Union,” Trump told his supporters in Florida on Tuesday.
Trump’s public attacks on his critics, political opponents, or people he dislikes often include insults or criticism of the family members of his targets.
He recently called Bragg’s wife in a Truth Social post Monday, calling the accuser’s partner a “Trump-hating woman” — similar to how he attacked Merchan’s family.
Trump has also repeatedly attacked Elaine Chao, the wife of Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and nicknamed her “Coco Chow.” Chao spent four years in Trump’s cabinet as Secretary of Transportation.
And when he sparred with Texas Senator Ted Cruz ahead of the 2016 election, Trump was embroiled in controversy for calling Cruz’s wife Heidi “ugly” and posting comments about her appearance on social media.
Representatives from Trump, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Court did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests sent outside of regular business hours.
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