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At the tail end of a three-part Truth Social rant on Saturday, Donald Trump raged at being placed under a gag order by Judge Juan Merchan tied to the upcoming trial related to the former president paying hush money to an adult film star, with the Trump saying he would gladly go to jail rather than have his right to speak abridged.

To make his point, Trump compared himself to human rights icon Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in jail for leading the African National Conference (ANC) for opposing the apartheid policies in South Africa.

Saturday afternoon, just hours before he is set to appear at a gala fundraiser in Palm Beach, Donald Trump lashed out at three New York judges in a three-part furious rant about how he has been treated by the legal system.

Along the way, he also attacked New York writer E. Jean Carroll who successfully sued him for defamation and was awarded $91 million in damages over two trials.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," MSNBC host Ali Velshi claimed that the wheeling and dealing of the stock issued by Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker DJT, is likely drawing more than the normal amount of scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Velshi, who started out at MSNBC as a business reporter, claimed he has been closely watching the price plummet and the lawsuits tied to the company play out in the press and there should be cause for concern that not everything looks above board.

After first taking a shot at the stock centered on the lackluster performance of Truth Social, which caused the value to go into freefall, he claimed he didn't, for the moment, see anything Donald Trump has done that would have him in trouble with the SEC, but there should be concerns for investors.

ALSO READ: No, Donald Trump, fraud is not protected by the First Amendment

"We know the FBI is involved because of these two guys who were insider trading," he told host Phang. "We are not sure what the connection is, and we are not sure whether Donald Trump or anybody in the company knew about it."

"That said, the SEC does have rules and nothing Donald Trump does generally sounds like a guy who is equipped to follow those kinds of rules," he continued. "So, I would imagine the SEC is looking at it very closely. I have been studying it closely, there is nothing I have seen that is clearly an SEC violation, but it is awfully messy."

"If you are going to run a public company, there are actual rules and if you violate them, the SEC will come after you," he elaborated. "I don't know what it is; everything that I talked about right now seems to be legal, including [TikTok investor] Jeff Yass involving himself in this company, possibly for the benefit of his TikTok stocks. But I would assure you there are some people at the SEC who are watching it closely."

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By his words and by his actions, Donald Trump is making it difficult for Judge Aileen Cannon to put her thumb on the scale in his favor as she issues rulings that appear to be designed to derail his obstruction of government trial.

Reacting to Cannon's ruling to put off the question about the application of the Presidential Records Act (PRA) to the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, until the trial begins, the New Republic's Greg Sargent suggested a Trump Truth Social posting only stirred up more worries that he fully expects her to protect him since he appointed her to her lifetime appointment.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attends pro-Trump supporters rally at New York criminal court on April 4, 2023 during appearance by Former President Donald Trump Jr, Image via Shutterstock.

With lawmakers due to return to Washington, DC on Tuesday after a weeks-long recess, many eyes will be on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) to see if she follows through on her threat to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).

Donald Trump is pinning his hopes on a major haul at a gala fundraiser in Palm Beach on Saturday night as he falls farther behind President Joe Biden in the race for presidential election campaign cash.

While Biden is raking in big campaign bucks and landing last month with $192 million on hand, more than double what Trump can access, the former president is stuck playing catch-up during a critical period in the campaign at the same time he is funneling money to his lawyers to keep him out of jail.

A noticeable slowdown in mail delivery by the US Postal Service (USPS) is becoming a significant concern for democracy advocates, as millions of Americans will be voting by mail this year. There's growing worry about whether mail ballots will be counted in time — particularly in swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

NBC News reported that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — a GOP donor who has been in his position since a Republican-controlled USPS Board of Governors put him there in 2020 — is being blamed for mail delays due to his 10-year restructuring of the USPS. DeJoy's plan, dubbed "Delivering for America," involves consolidating all mail-sorting operations to 60 regional distribution centers. The plan's rollout began in the fall of 2023, and the on-time delivery rate of two-day, first-class mail has since dropped from 90% to 87.5%.

The 2024 presidential election is expected to be decided by slim margins across a handful of battleground states. And one former Republican staffer on Capitol Hill thinks former President Donald Trump needs to reverse course if he hopes to prevent disgruntled GOP voters from defecting to President Joe Biden's camp.

When she suspended her campaign after the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley notably declined to endorse Trump, saying he would have to "earn" her supporters' votes in November. And so far, Trump has not made any inroads with his former rival's base. Tara Setmeyer, who was a communications director for a Republican member of Congress for seven years, recently told the Guardian that his refusal to court her supporters could cost him in November.