Donald Trump kicked off Day 4 of his criminal hush-money trial in a familiar fashion: with the airing of grievances.
“They’ve taken away my constitutional rights to speak and that includes speaking to you,” the former president told reporters as he arrived at Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday.
He insisted Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order—which bars him from taking shots at prosecutors, jurors, court staff, and their families—“has to come off.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“People are allowed to speak about me and I have a gag order, just to show you how much more unfair it is,” he said.
What’s also unfair? The entire criminal prosecution against him, said Trump—again—as he complained about being stuck in a courtroom “all day long” when he could be on the campaign trail.
“This is going on for the week and it will go up for another four or five weeks. It’s very unfair,” he whined. “People know it’s very unfair.”
The 12-person jury that will decide Trump’s fate in the historic trial of the century has already been chosen, but five more alternates need to be seated before opening arguments can begin. Friday kicked off with the questioning of potential jurors—and an assurance from Merchan that court staff are trying to turn up the heat in the room, which Trump complained about on Thursday.
“I want to apologize that it’s chilly in here,” he told the court. “We’re trying to do the best we can to control the temperature, but it’s one extreme or the other.”
