Trump Speaks Out on Morning of Historic Criminal Trial: 'I Want My Voice Back'
April 15 is Tax Day, and it was obviously taxing on former President Donald Trump.
Trump made history Monday by becoming the first former U.S. president to sit for a criminal trial, but it was clear from his posts to social media that he didn’t consider the history-making day to be an honor.
Before 6 a.m., the former president was already on Truth Social, arguing that the trials were little more than “cheating” on the part of the Democrats to keep him from re-taking the White House in November.
“The Radical Left Democrats are already cheating on the 2024 Presidential Election by bringing, or helping to bring, all of these bogus lawsuits against me, thereby forcing me to sit in courthouses, and spend money that could be used for campaigning, instead of being out in the field knocking Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the History of the United States,” he wrote.
Trump mentioned the various “lawsuits” against him in his post, but the proceeding beginning today was not a civil suit, but a criminal prosecution. Trump faces four such cases.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in what could very well be the only one of the four criminal cases against the former president that goes to trial before the November election.
Trump’s legal team has worked hard to delay the trial, to little avail, according to The Wall Street Journal. However, this case is the one with “the lowest stakes of the four prosecutions he faces,” the outlet noted.
If convicted, the former president would not necessarily face prison, as the counts involved do not mandate incarceration. He could see up to four years, however, according to The New York Times.
The Times claimed that the case, which revolves around hush money paid to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, “could reshape the political landscape ahead of Election Day.” Numerous polls have demonstrated that a guilty verdict would have little effect on Trump’s support, however.
“Even if the Manhattan trial were to result in a conviction, many voters have indicated that it won’t impact how they’ll vote in November,” ABC News reported late Sunday. “A Quinnipiac University poll from March found that 55 percent of registered voters said a conviction in this case would make ‘no difference’ in how they voted in the presidential race.
“Only 29 percent said they’d be less likely to support Trump — and that figure is composed in no small part of people who weren’t likely to vote for him anyway,” the outlet added. “Forty-nine percent of Democrats said the conviction would make them less likely to cast a ballot for Trump.”
Nonetheless, Trump referred to the trial as “Election Interference!”
A little more than two hours later, Trump argued that the gag order imposed on him by Justice Juan M. Merchan amounted to an attack on his constitutional rights, presumably the right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment.
“I want my VOICE back,” Trump wrote. “This Crooked Judge has GAGGED me. Unconstitutional! The other side can talk about me, but I am not allowed to talk about them! Rigged Trial!”
Trump was apparently referring to the order issued by Merchan requiring Trump to refrain from “attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and the judge’s family,” according to the Times.
Jury selection was expected to begin on Monday, following the judge’s rulings on a number of other legal issues pending in the case.
Even the Times recognized that finding a fair jury will be a challenge.
“Prosecutors have some advantage, as the jury pool is drawn from Manhattan, one of the most Democratic counties in America,” the Times noted. “Mr. Trump’s team will be looking for red needles in a blue haystack.”
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