Former President Donald Trump seems determined to drive himself right into the ground, and I’m here for it. He’s still mocking Judge Juan Merchan. who has presided over numerous Trump cases and is now presiding over the recently and rather controversially [1] scheduled case involving that now-infamous hush money that was allegedly paid to Stormy Daniels. Merchan has ordered Trump to knock it off with the continual writing about the trial on trial on social media and beyond, Uproxx [2] reports.
So will he stop doing this? You’re kidding, right?
Trump lawyer Alina Habba, appeared on CNN and was asked by host Kaitlan Collins if her client would obey Judge Merchan’s protective order about what he can and can’t say in public about the case, Mediaite [3] reports. Habba told Collins that he “absolutely” would (yeah, sure). She went on to say that Trump has “always abided by any order,” and that he’s “never been sanctioned by a judge for not listening to the rules.” Further, Habba said, the former president “respects the law, respects the judges.”
He just doesn’t believe he’s “always being treated fairly.”
That led Collins to remind Habba that Trump is still attacking Judge Merchan online, and the attorney admitted she wasn’t confident that Trump would be able to shut up online.
“You know, I think you have to put yourself in his shoes, right?” Habba said. “He is not only a human being, a citizen. He’s a political candidate that has a reputation as not just a real estate tycoon, but an incredible president and also a politician.”
Somehow she managed to say that with a straight face.
Then she went all conspiracy theory, connecting the dots between Merchan being assigned to both the Trump Organization, where former CFO Allen Weisselberg wound up in the pokey and the Stormy Daniels case, which Trump complained was intentionally set for next spring, smack in the middle of primary season, in order to gum up his campaign.
Somehow I don’t think that’s likely true but I hope it works whether it is or not. Doesn’t Trump mud-sling, tell outright lies, and sometimes sell people out to the highest bidder? I mean, look what he did to his own Vice President, Mike Pence, inciting a dangerous mob to consider violence towards him.
But Habba seems to think Trump deserves sympathy. But then she’s paid to say that.
“So when you see these judges that somehow get the same cases, you can’t think that’s a coincidence,” she told Collins. “Merchan had the Weisselberg case, and that was a very unfair case, in my opinion. That was something that if you were John Doe, maybe you would have just gotten a slap on the wrist, paid a fine, and moved on. Somehow he gets Merchan again. You can’t help but think that there is something going on there.”
“So I think my client is right to be angry,” Habba maintained. “I think that he has a First Amendment right to speak just like you do, just like I do. And he’s going to use it to the extent he can within the court’s order.”
Trump is a man who’s always acted as if laws weren’t meant for him. He’s repeatedly gotten in trouble for not shutting up. How much do you want to bet he’s going to do it again and flat-out break the law [4] like he’s doing with E. Jean Carroll all over again?
Trump atty @AlinaHabba [5] appears on @CNNThisMorning [6] w/ @kaitlancollins [7] and is asked about the protective order
HABBA: He respects the court's orders. Does he think that he's always being treated fairly? No, absolutely not…But he — he does not have no respect for the law.
📺🤔 https://t.co/MPHc1h0jMm [8] pic.twitter.com/Rhs6OH6CfU [9]
— Bad Fox Graphics (@BadFoxGraphics) May 24, 2023 [10]