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President Donald Trump reacted to his legal battles on social media Wednesday after a judge denied his bid on move his New York case to federal court.
Trump post on Truth Social featured an image of his face covered with the colors of the American flag.
“I am proud to represent our Failing Nation in fighting the GREATEST POLITICAL WITCH HUNT IN HISTORY. REMOVE THE GAG ORDER SO THAT I CAN SHOW HOW CORRUPT OUR COURT SYSTEM IS. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ARE NOT TO BE GAGGED!” he wrote.
Tuesday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled an effort by Trump’s lawyers to move his hush-money case on the grounds of presidential immunity. Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May.
“Hush money paid to an adult actress is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” Hellerstein wrote, affirming the court’s previous ruling.
“Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” the judge added.
Trump’s legal team filed to move the case to federal court on Aug. 29, noting that Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter worked for the Biden-Harris 2020 presidential campaign.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed Authentic Campaigns CEO Mike Nellis, the company where Merchan’s daughter worked, to address the concern.
“If Authentic Campaigns indeed has no responsive records for the other requests made by the Committee on August 1, as you have asserted, the Committee requests a sworn certification under the penalty of perjury that Authentic Campaigns made a reasonable, diligent, and good faith search for responsive documents and was unable to locate any responsive documents,” Jordan wrote last month.
Trump’s lawyers have also requested for Trump’s sentencing to be delayed until after the upcoming election. His sentencing is currently scheduled for Sept. 18.
Trump is barred from making public comments in a partial gag order concerning the New York case. The 45th president has repeatedly argued that the gag order is election interference keeping him from speaking out on political issues to the American people.