‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!’

Former President Donald Trump appeared to make it clear on Wednesday that Judge Juan Merchan’s Monday risk to jail him for future violations of his restrictive gag order could be met with defiance.

“Give me liberty or give me death,” Trump wrote Wednesday in an all-caps message on Truth Social, quoting the American Founding Father Patrick Henry.

“It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want,” Trump’s submit added. “It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be put in prison, maybe for a long period of time.”

In the Wednesday submit, Trump added: “This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!”

The submit additionally took purpose at Judges Arthur Engoron and Lewis Kaplan, each from New York, labeling them “equally corrupt, only in different ways.”

“What these thugs are doing is an attack on the Republican Party, and our once great nation itself. Our First Amendment must stand, free and strong,” the previous president concluded.

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Trump signaled this week that he’s prepared to be locked up for violating Merchan’s gag order in remarks to reporters.

On Monday, Merchan, a identified donor to Democratic candidates, cited new examples of Trump violating the order after he fined the forty fifth president $9,000 final week for comparable violations. “Merchan warned Trump that continued violations of the order could result in incarceration—a threat he made again on Monday after fining him the maximum of $1,000 for the most recent violation,” NBC News reported.

“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent,” Merchan mentioned throughout early proceedings on Monday.

“The last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for you,” he continued, including that taking that step could be “disruptive to the proceedings.”

However, Merchan warned Trump that “his continued willful violations of this court’s orders threaten the administration of justice and constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue.”

Trump later responded exterior Merchan’s courtroom.

“I tell you people, you ask me a question, a simple question, I’d like to give it, but I can’t talk about it because this judge has given me a gag order and said you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” he mentioned.

“And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day,” he added.

The former president additionally famous that the trial is anticipated to final for a number of extra weeks.

“So we just found out. The government said they want two to three more weeks,” he said, per The Epoch Times.. They wish to preserve me off the path for 2 to a few extra weeks. Now, anyone in there would notice there’s no case; they don’t have a case.”

“This is just a political witch hunt, it’s election interference, and this is really, truly election interference,” he mentioned, claiming that the case was solely introduced after he introduced his marketing campaign.

Trump additionally criticized the order late final week.

“This judge has taken away my constitutional right,” Trump said within the hallway exterior courtroom on Friday morning. “We’re filing, I think today, a constitutional motion. He added, “If somebody says something about me and I’m not allowed to respond, that’s never happened before.”

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