Judge feared Trump witnesses would refuse to testify after he got to relatives: expert

The judge in Donald Trump's hush money criminal case feared witnesses would refuse to testify because the former president would summon the fury of the MAGA world against their relatives, an expert said Monday night.

The gag order Judge Juan Merchan expanded Monday came after the jurist considered Trump's threats to the relatives of those taking part in the trial a serious threat to justice, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman said.

It previously covered just jury members, witnesses and court staff.

But Merchan decided that Trump could still intimidate those key players by targeting those close to them, Litman said.

"The important and interesting aspect of Merchan’s order is that he bases it on risk of intimidation of witnesses or any parties to the prosecution, noting that [Trump's] ... vitriol could deter witnesses etc. because they conclude their family members would be at risk," he wrote in a post on Twitter/X.

"This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Merchan wrote. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game,’ for Defendant’s vitriol.”

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The extended gag order still doesn't bar Trump from criticizing the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who spearheaded the 34-count indictment against Trump for fudging business records to prevent payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet an alleged affair just weeks before the 2016 presidential election.

But he is now barred from commenting publicly about the family of Bragg or Merchan.

Should Trump decide to break the gag order, he could be found in contempt of court with potential consequences including being warned, fined, or sent to jail.

After the initial gag order was imposed, Trump unloaded furious attacks at Merchan and also Merchan’s daughter, Loren, who works as a Democratic political consultant, claiming she “makes money by working to ‘Get Trump.'"