(Manhattan, NYC) Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial, warned the former president if he didn’t “behave,” he would make sure that the trial ended the day after the November election.
“It’s not election interference. It is what the court terms as its ‘judicial preference,'” Merchan said during the day’s proceedings. “And should the defendant not behave, the court will exercise its preference and keep the defendant off the campaign trail the entire election cycle.”
“No more visits to Harlem bodegas, either,” Merchan warned. “If you go there again, Mr. Trump, I’m going to have to bar you from any sort of campaigning as well. This court won’t allow you any latitude to try and convince New Yorkers to side with you unless I give you that opportunity inside my courtroom.”
Merchan also shot down a motion by Trump’s defense team to allow him to testify on his own behalf, ruling that it “wouldn’t be in the best interests of justice.”
