An enraged President Trump claimed that the “acting” judge, Juan Merchan, who presides over his New York hush-money case, was “breaking the law” when he denied Trump’s request to dismiss the case and decided to sentence Trump next Friday. 

“Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law?” Trump asked in a long proclamation on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday night, referring to Judge Merchan. In an earlier statement on Friday, issued by his spokesman Steve Cheung, he called him “deeply conflicted” and “corrupt”.

On Friday, Judge Merchan refused to dismiss the criminal case brought against Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and said that he would sentence the once and future president on January 10, just ten days before the inauguration. 

In his ruling, Judge Merchan said he was inclined to issue what’s known as an unconditional discharge, a rare kind of sentence which means Trump would be released from any duty or obligation with no conditions attached.  

But Trump, upon issuance of an unconditional discharge, would formally become a convicted felon, a victory for his nemesis, the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. This outcome is believed to be unacceptable to Trump, who said on Friday said via a spokesman, in a statement denouncing “the witch hunt sentencing by corrupt Merchan,” that he will “continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead.”  

In May of last year, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony charges of falsification of business records in an alleged scheme to interfere with the 2016 election. 

Mr. Bragg had alleged that in 2016, with Election Day nearing, Trump’s then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, made a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to buy her silence about her claim that she had a single sexual encounter with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in 2006. Trump was accused of directing Cohen to wire the money to Ms. Clifford and then disguise Trump’s reimbursement to Cohen as a legal fee. Mr. Bragg translated this transaction into multiple felony counts. Trump denies all charges and says he never had sex with Ms. Clifford.

“Merchan took the Bragg Hoax that, according to all Legal Scholars, should have been dead on arrival and, through his fraud and misconduct, gave it a semblance of ‘life,’” Trump further wrote on Truth Social, describing the numerous cases brought against him as politically motivated “lawfare” and an “illegitimate political attack” that is “nothing but a Rigged Charade.” 

“This has to stop! It is time to end the Lawfare once and for all, so we can come together as one Nation and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote. 

In his post, Trump again brought up one issue in the case that’s particularly infuriated him: the gag order, which Judge Merchan imposed on him, which bars him from making comments or directing others to make public statements about witnesses or about counsel in the case, (excluding Mr. Bragg) or about court staff, or the family members of staff. 

“‘Acting’ Justice Merchan, who is a radical partisan, just issued another order that is knowingly unlawful, goes against our Constitution and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it. Merchan has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping in place an illegal gag order on me, your President and President Elect, just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts,” Trump fumed. 

On March 26, two weeks before the historic trial against Trump was set to begin at Manhattan criminal court, the judge issued a limited gag order on Trump. He imposed the restriction after the prosecution had submitted evidence that Trump supporters were making violent threats against participants in the case who Trump had publicly criticized. But on April 1, the judge extended the gag order to include the family members of the staff, after Trump verbally attacked the judge’s adult daughter, Loren Merchan, a Democratic operative. Trump claimed that Ms. Merchan maintained a Twitter account with a profile picture that showed him behind bars. 

Court officials claimed Ms. Merchan had not used the account for years, had not added the carceral image of Trump, and that the account must have been co-opted by a hacker. Indeed, while the controversy raged, the holder of the account swapped out the Trump picture for one of Vice President Harris as a child.  

Ms. Merchan is an executive at Authentic Campaigns, which does political work for progressive campaigns including those of Trump’s sworn enemies, Ms. Harris and Senator Schiff. The founder of Authentic Campaigns, Mike Nellis, also founded “White Dudes for Harris” and served as a senior advisor on her campaign.

Judge Merchan himself has given small amounts, less than fifty dollars, of money to Democrats, including to President Biden. Upon reviewing the donations, a supervisory group of judges ruled that Judge Merchan was out of line making the donations, but not far enough out of line that he should step down. Judge Merchan would go on to refuse Trump’s persistent demands that he recuse himself multiple times.

Despite the gag order, Trump continued to make public statements and was consequently held in contempt of court. Judge Merchan found that he violated the gag order on ten instances during and before the trial. He fined the former president $1,000 for each violation, reaching a total sum of $10,000.

The gag order remains in place to this day and Trump could make it a centerpiece of his appeals. He has consistently argued that the judge is biased and is furious that he can’t detail his allegations.

“Trump has every right to appeal,” a criminal judge, George Grasso, told the Sun on Friday over the phone, “all the way to the Court of Appeals,” the highest court in New York State. 

“On a parallel track he can make federal appeals,” Judge Grasso added. “He absolutely will be able to get this case to the Supreme Court. The reason why I am so certain on that, is because of the Trump v the United States case.” 

Last year, in July, the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision that presidents are immune from prosecution when exercising the ‘core powers” of their presidencies. Within hours of the historic ruling, Trump’s attorneys requested to dismiss the hush-money verdict and the indictment, arguing Mr. Bragg used evidence during the trial that stemmed from the time Trump served his first term as president.  

“The Supreme Court,” Judge Grasso explained, “is going to have to take this case at some point, I believe, to assess whether things like the Hope Hicks testimony, relating to things that they discussed in the Oval Office while Trump was president, somehow tainted the rules that were laid out by the Supreme Court in that recent ruling to an extend that requires a vacature of this case.”  

Trump’s attorneys argued that the use of testimony during the trial by his former White House aides, Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, about things that happened related to the hush-money trial while Trump was president, meant the case should be thrown out.

Judge Merchan, who has ruled against Trump with consistency from when he first got the case, would not dismiss the case.

Mr. Bragg’s office declined to comment on Judge Merchan’s ruling on Friday. 

Trump will have to wait to appeal the conviction until after the sentencing, which is scheduled to take place at Manhattan criminal court next Friday. The judge gave Trump – who has been at Mar-a-Lago planning his new administration –  the option to attend the sentencing virtually. Trump did not signal, on Friday, if he is planning to appear in person. 

The Arkansas senator, Tom Cotton, who was elected as GOP Conference Chair, the number three leadership position, in November, said in a tweet on Friday that, “The entire case against President Trump was a farce. 34 felonies for correctly categorizing a legal payment, in a district where killers walk free,” he posted on X. “Juan Merchan – once again – demonstrates that he is a political activist (and Biden donor!) first, and a judge second.”