Lawrence O’Donnell Accuses Trump of 'Juror Intimidation' and Says He 'Violated Gag Order in Worst Way'
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell tore into Donald Trump for a social media post that he called "juror intimidation" an a violation of the gag order in his hush money case.
April 18 2024, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell tore into Donald Trump for a social media post that he said appeared to violate the judge's gag order in the former president's New York criminal case, RadarOnline.com can report.
Trump took to Truth Social after the third day of his hush money trial and quoted Fox News commentator Jesse Watters: "They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury."
On Wednesday evening's episode of The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell, the anchor scolded Trump, who he argued "appears to have violated the judge's gag order on mentions and attacks of jurors in his case."
"This is specifically aimed at intimidating the seven people already seated on that jury and anyone else who might be seated on the jury that when you're seated on Donald Trump's jury, you will be publicly attacked by Donald Trump and his allies in the news media," O'Donnell said.
Watters had written the comment on his X page alongside a video clip of his show, Jesse Watters Primetime.
During the segment, Watters said, "They are trying to rig this jury," before making the quoted remarks and criticizing the jury selection process.
O'Donnell argued that Trump's repost was an endorsement of Watters' comment, and that "calling his jurors who have already been seated liars" was allegedly a clear violation of the gag order "in the worst possible way."
"Those words are the same as Donald Trump writing them himself," O'Donnell said. "That was Donald Trump's choice to violate his gag order."
"This is by far, by far, the most severe way Donald Trump can violate that gag order," the host's rebuke continued, "by going after the jurors in his case. This is, by Donald Trump, by any interpretation, juror intimidation."
Trump faces 34 felony charges of falsifying business records related to the hush money payments.
He went on to say that the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, "is going to have to deal with this immediately," noting that Merchan "has paused his timing on hearing the question of violations of the gag order."
O'Donnell said it "seems impossible to see how the judge can wait on that."
Judge Merchan imposed the gag order last month due to Trump's history of “threatening, inflammatory, and denigrating” language about those involved in his cases.
The order bars the ex-president from making any public statements about potential witnesses, court staff, members of counsel, or their families.
Trump reacted to the move by posting disparaging comments about the gag order, the judge, and the judge's daughter on Truth Social.
"Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised, and should be removed from this TRUMP Non-Case immediately,” he ranted on March 28. “His Daughter, Loren, is a Rabid Trump Hater, who has admitted to having conversations with her father about me, and yet he gagged me.”
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Trump has also made several posts aimed at discrediting Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, key witnesses in the case.
On Monday, during day one of the hush money trial, prosecutors argued the former president's posts violated the gag order and called for him to be fined $3,000. Judge Merchan has yet to take any action on the matter.
Jury selection continued on Thursday for day four of the trial over the hush money payments Trump's lawyer, Cohen, allegedly made to Daniels, an adult film star. The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to make the alleged payments.
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