CNN —A sitting federal judge on Thursday harshly criticized Donald Trump’s attacks on the judge overseeing the former president’s criminal case tied to alleged hush money payments, telling CNN that such statements threaten the viability of the American legal system.
US District Judge Reggie Walton spoke with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” in the wake of Trump’s attacks on Judge Juan Merchan, which helped prompt the New York judge to issue a gag order on the former president earlier this week.
It is unusual for federal judges to speak publicly, especially about specific political or legal situations.
Trump criticized Merchan, his daughter and one of Bragg’s prosecutors in the hours before Merchan issued his gag order.
Walton, who has been a senior judge of the federal trial level court in Washington, DC, since 2001, told CNN he is speaking out against threats on judges because he is concerned.
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