'Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover': A Utah judge was suspended without pay for making anti-Trump comments online and in court

• A Utah judge has been suspended for six months without pay for making controversial comments about President Trump online and in court.

• "Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover," Judge Michael Kwan wrote online. "We need to be diligent in questioning Congressional Republicans if they are going to be the American Reichstag."

• Trump has a notoriously tumultuous relationship with US judges and has publically blasted some that have ruled against him.
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A Utah judge has been suspended for six months without pay for making controversial comments about President Trump online and in court.

According to the court ruling, Kwan made a series of comments bashing the President on social media in both the run-up and the years after the 2016 Presidential election.

Kwan said that his comments before the election were largely "social commentary or humor" and were not "expressly" critical of Trump. He said he was more "direct" and "critical" after the election but that these comments should be protected under the first amendment as they were synonymous with his views on issues such as racism and civil rights.

The court ruling listed examples of his Trump bashings on social media.

In 2016, after Trump was elected, he wrote: "Think I'll go to the shelter to adopt a cat before the President-Elect grabs them all." Kwan appears to be referencing an Access Hollywood tape that surfaced before the election and in which Trump was heard bragging about "grabbing" women by the genitals.

In 2017, Kwan wrote: "Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover. We need to be diligent in questioning Congressional Republicans if they are going to be the American Reichstag."

The Utah Supreme Court ruled Thursday that he had violated the code of conduct several times. Kwan's attorney did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Trump has had a notoriously shaky relationship with US judges and has publically blasted some that have ruled against him.

One federal judge recently called the Trump administration a "great assault" on the US judiciary.