Trump: Kamala Using 'Witch Hunt' Against Me

Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social Friday evening, writing that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking the Democrat Party's nomination, is conducting a witch hunt against him.

"Can anybody believe that I am still under a harsh Gag Order, placed on me by a Highly Conflicted, Unelected, and Acting New York Judge, which makes it very difficult to Campaign, especially when Crazy Kamala Harris is using this Witch Hunt against me," Trump wrote. "Every major Legal Scholar and Pundit has said that this case is a SCAM and a HOAX, and that I did nothing wrong. Story after story has been written that the Judge had no right to do what he did, that it was a political decision against the Opponent of Crooked Joe Biden and Crazy Kamala."

On Thursday, a New York state appeals court rejected Trump's challenge to a gag order in his hush-money case. Judge Juan Merchan's latest ruling did loosen restrictions around what the former president could comment on publicly. Trump was convicted in May on charges related to hush money paid to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.

The gag order prevents the Republican presidential nominee from commenting publicly about the jurors, potential jurors, counsel for the prosecution, and family members related to Judge Juan Merchan — one of which, Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, was the director of digital persuasion for the Kamala Harris' 2020 presidential campaign. The gag order is set to be upheld until Merchan sentences Trump on Sept. 18 — seven weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

"It is unprecedented in United States History," Trump added. "The Gag Order should be voided at once and, based on the Immunity Decision just handed down by the United States Supreme Court, and for many other reasons, this case should be IMMEDIATELY terminated!"

On Thursday, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to Merchan's daughter Loren Merchan, President of Authentic Campaigns Inc., an ad agency that primarily represents the Democrat Party.

"In testimony to the Committee, experts have explained how Judge Merchan made several errors before and during President Trump's trial that violated due process, infringed upon his First Amendment rights, and prevented him from receiving a fair trial," Jordan wrote to Loren Merchan.

Jordan wrote that those errors included admitting inadmissible, irrelevant, and "prejudicial testimony against President Trump" into evidence. Jordan wrote Trump's ability to rebut the evidence was unfairly limited.

"Judge Merchan issued a gag order to prohibit President Trump from making statements about the judge's family members, including you and your political advocacy work on behalf of Democrats. Judge Merchan refused to recuse himself, despite his close ties to Democrat aligned interests and the likelihood that your political advocacy firm could benefit financially from his rulings," Jordan continued.

Jordan wrote that Merchan's bias "was so obvious that one former federal prosecutor, a left-wing legal analyst, disagreed forcefully with Judge Merchan's decision not to recuse, stating that he 'absolutely should have recused himself[.]'

Jordan called the prosecution politically motivated.

"The House is currently considering legislation, informed by the Committee's oversight, that would remedy politically motivated local prosecutions by allowing a current or former president to remove the case to a more neutral forum in federal court. If such a measure were in place at the time, Judge Merchan would not have presided over President Trump's trial," he wrote.