CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Monday that former President Trump must be handled like a “child” by New York Judge Juan Merchan over his violation of a gag order in his upcoming hush money trial.
Honig criticized Trump for publicly making attacks on his Truth Social account against various expected witnesses in his criminal trial.
“Just over the weekend, Donald Trump has been publicly posting attacks on Michael Cohen, known witness, Stormy Daniels, known witness … commented about Mark Pomerantz, a potential witness,” Honig said.
“If you tolerate this, it’s like raising a child. If the child breaks a rule and you let it go, you’ve lost them. And so one of the challenges for Judge Merchan here is going to be enforcing discipline in this court,” Honig said.
Merchan on April 1 imposed a gag order against Trump that prohibited public comment about witnesses “concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,” among other restrictions.
But over the weekend, Trump ripped into the adult film star Stormy Daniels and his former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen on Truth Social as “two sleaze bags” who have “with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!”
Both Daniels and Cohen will be key witnesses in the criminal trial. Trump is accused of paying off Daniels to keep quiet about an affair. Cohen delivered the payment.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office called Trump’s rhetoric “dangerous” and said it “fundamentally threatens the integrity of these proceedings.” Trump has already come under fire from Merchan for comments about the judge’s daughter, who has been involved with Democratic causes.
“All the gag order says is he’s not allowed to comment publicly about witnesses, jurors, court staff, prosecutors’ staff, or their families,” Honig said.
“He’s not been abiding by the gag order and we’re going to have an important moment soon to see whether the DA or the judge does anything about it,” he said.