'Worried': Trump's latest attacks show he is 'running a bit scared' from hush money case

Whatever the motives, Donald Trump targeting the hush money criminal case judge and his marketing exec daughter, proves he's "worried," according to one expert.

Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson told Salon that insulting Judge Juan Merchan a little over two weeks before his hush-money trial is set to begin is neither "wise" nor a "good move" and "just a recipe for sort of getting in the worst position possible during the trial."

But most significantly it's a vulnerable tell.

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"To me it shows that he's worried," she intimated. "What he's trying to do is cushion himself if he does get convicted by saying, 'I never had a fair shot because [of] the judge and the judge's daughter,' so it does make him look like he's running a bit scared."

Why would Trump feel the need to go after Merchan and his daughter, Loren Merchan? Insecurity.

"You don't have to attack a judge if you're confident in your case," Levenson told the outlet.

The gag order hasn't slowed Trump's dismay.

"Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately," former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social. "His Daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me."

The griping comes after the judge granted the district attorney's request for a narrow gag order.

Merchan announced April 15 to start trial in the case where the 45th president, 77, is defending himself against a 34-count indictment brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year accusing him of falsifying business records in order to prevent "damaging information and unlawful activity" involving payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels (whom he engaged in an alleged affair) from being aired from American voters weeks before the 2016 election.

David Schultz, a professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University, told Salon that Merchan may let Trump pipe off on him or his daughter because it preemptively "takes away another one of Trump's grounds for appeal" should he accuse the judge of exhibiting bias against him and silencing his First Amendment rights.

"I think he's going to let him, at this point, say whatever he wants about him and his daughter," he said, but noted he could expand the gag order if the rhetoric becomes incendiary.

Otherwise, Schultz said, "I think he's going to potentially let Trump hang himself."