Trump Attacks Judge Who Refused To Further Delay Hush Money Trial: ‘He Hates Me!’

Former President Donald Trump went on the offensive Tuesday against the New York state judge overseeing the criminal trial over the alleged hush-money payments he made in 2016.

Judge Juan Merchan, the latest jurist to face the indicted Republican presidential candidate’s ire for doing their job, is presiding over a trial that stems from payments Trump allegedly made to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign in order to bury accusations he had an affair. The former president was charged last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the alleged payments.

Later Tuesday, Merchan issued a gag order against Trump in the hush money case. The order prohibits the former president from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors, court staff or prosecutors involved in the trial.

“It is without question that the imminency of the risk of harm is now paramount,” he wrote in the order.

As Trump has done in other cases he’s charged in, the GOP presidential frontrunner has fervently denied wrongdoing in the hush-money case. This trial will be the first time a United States president is criminally prosecuted.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee called Merchan a “very distinguished looking man” who is “nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

“In other words, he hates me!” Trump continued.

The post comes one day after Merchan ruled that Trump’s trial can proceed on April 15 as scheduled, denying a request by Trump’s lawyers to either further delay the case by 90 days or have it altogether dismissed.

The trial was originally set to start Monday. But