- Donald Trump is apparently trying to get the judge overseeing his indictment recused by verbally attacking him.
- That's according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Donald Trump keeps publicly attacking the judge overseeing his New York indictment to try to force him off the case, according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
"I think he is trying to get the judge to recuse himself," Haberman said Wednesday on CNN. "I think that is part of what Trump's game here."
The indicted former president verbally attacked New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and his family hours after the judge warned Trump not to make remarks that could endanger others during his Manhattan arraignment.
"This is where we are right now. I have a Trump-hating judge, with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign," Trump said during a Tuesday night speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Haberman — the New York Times political correspondent who has covered Trump's inner circle for years —said that she heard after Trump's speech that Trump is trying to get the judge pushed off his case.
"Trump is trying to change the judge, which is one of the things we've seen Trump do in other cases over time," she said.
Merchan oversaw a previous tax fraud case against the Trump Organization and has a case against former Trump advisor Steve Bannon on his docket.
Trump attorneys asked Merchan to recuse himself from the Trump Organization payroll-tax prosecution last year, but the judge declined to do so.
Shortly before he was arraigned on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records on Tuesday in a Manhattan courthouse, Trump posted to his Truth Social app, saying in an all caps rant: "THE HIGHLY PARTISAN JUDGE & HIS FAMILY ARE WELL KNOWN TRUMP HATERS."
Criminal defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Bederow told Insider that "it is completely batshit crazy" for Trump to go after the judge overseeing his case.
"It is a horrible legal strategy. It's probably humiliating and embarrassing to his attorneys because they can't control it," Bederow said.
Bederow, who called Merchan "widely respected by anyone who practices in Manhattan Supreme Court," said that he doesn't believe the judge would "recuse himself because Trump is making ridiculous statements about his ability to be fair."
"Do I think that [Trump's] testing the waters to get the judge removed? I don't think that's the sole motivation," Bederow said. "Do I think that it's probably crossing his mind that this is a way in his mind to have the judge recuse? I'm sure it does."
A Trump attorney declined to comment to Insider when asked whether the defense plans to ask Merchan to recuse himself.