The 45th president’s attorneys must seek leave from Merchan to challenge the judge’s authority to oversee the case due to an earlier court ruling intended to tamp down on the number of docket entries. In that order, Merchan expressed disdain for defense efforts to increasingly delay the proceedings. In turn, he instructed both the defense and the state to file a one-page letter explaining why they needed to file any given motion before filing any additional motions.
When Trump’s defense motion for recusal is filed, the effort appears likely to be a reprise in both form and substance of a June 2023 attempt to have Merchan tossed from the case due to his daughter’s activities as a Democratic Party-affiliated political consultant.
In court filings Friday and Monday, Bragg’s office argued Trump had violated the gag order by attacking Merchan’s daughter on social media. And, in the alternative, the state argued the gag order should be explicitly expanded to prohibit attacks on the judge’s family.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche rubbished those notions as entirely off-base and unsupported by both the text and subtext of the gag order.