Former President Donald Trump attacked the judge in his hush money trial, alleging that he has conflicts of interest.
It came just hours before the judge, Juan Merchan, was due to hear prosecutor allegations that Trump has repeatedly violated a gag order in the case.
Speaking on The Rich Zeoli Show on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia, he alleged that Merchan had big conflicts of interest in the case, which Trump said was being directed by the White House.
"We have a conflicted judge. Totally conflicted. We have a situation that nobody can actually believe. Nobody's seen anything like this," he said.
He also accused Merchan of pushing through the trial as fast as he could.
"And this judge is pushing it. He is the most conflicted person. He is so conflicted, he should not be allowed to be the judge of this case," Trump said. "And he is pushing it at levels, at breakneck speed. You heard it was gonna take two or three weeks for the jury. He did it in a few days."
He added that the people orchestrating the trial are "evil."
"They're evil people. They're truly evil people. It was nothing done wrong whatsoever," he said.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is seeking to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal not to disclose his alleged affairs with them, thereby influencing voters as to his character, then falsified records.
He denies affairs with either woman.
Trump told Zeoli that he was being tried in Manhattan, a Democratic area.
"We're in a 95 percent Democrat area, which they did. This all comes out of the White House," he said. "This is an effort to get Biden elected, and he's incompetent, and he is the worst president we've ever had. This is an effort by the Democrats, and it's a shame."
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Tuesday.
The former president is under a gag order imposed by Merchan to stop him publicly speaking about jurors, potential witnesses, court staff or their families during the proceedings. However, it does not restrict Trump from making statements about Merchan, Bragg or the case against him.
On Monday, prosecutors told Merchan that Trump has repeatedly violated the gag order. Merchan scheduled a hearing on the gag order for Tuesday morning, without the jury being present.
Prosecutors cite 10 examples of Trump's alleged violations, including an April 13 post on Truth Social in which he called prosecution witness Michael Cohen, a "disgraced attorney and felon."
Update 4/23/24, 3:48 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include an audio recording of Trump's radio interview.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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