Fox’s Jonathan Turley Rips Judge Merchan for Threatening Trump with Jailtime While Protecting ‘Thuggish’ Michael Cohen

Fox News contributor and legal analyst Jonathan Turley ripped Judge Juan Merchan for threatening former President Donald Trump with jailtime for violating a gag order that protects his “thuggish” ex-lawyer Michael Cohen on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for his infractions to date and warned him “that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.”

Turley reacted to the news on America’s Newsroom by musing that Merchan’s decision was “basically what we expected.”

“They [prosecutors] weren’t asking for jail time, the threat is lingering out there. The judge wanted to put this Damocles sword dangling over his head. It’s there and the thread’s getting thinner. And that’s basically what the judge is saying,” began Turley. “Unfortunately, I don’t think the judge has reexamined his order. I think it’s poorly written, and I also think it’s way too broad, And the inclusion of Michael Cohen in that order is absurd. I mean, you have someone who is making money campaigning against Trump and attacking him on this trial, and the judge is letting him speak, but not for the president to respond.”

“Here is the ABC News headline on that: ‘Michael Cohen’s Cashing In On the Trump trial with TikTok Livestreams and It Could Be a Problem,’ noted anchor Bill Hemmer. “Do you see this as a problem? And could that [gag order] be reversed perhaps by this?”

“Well, perish the thought that Cohen was not being entirely truthful when he said he’d make no more comments,” replied Turley sarcastically. “The fact is that this is an individual who just was recently hit by a judge saying that he’s a serial perjurer, that he’s gaming the system. This has been the long story of Michael Cohen, which is a story of a legal trainwreck.”

He continued:

And I was a critic of his when he was still representing Trump. And his practice has always been thuggish, and he’s often had a serious problem with telling the truth, whether it’s before Congress or to the courts. He’s accused of lying on the stand when he took his plea, and then he took the oath again and said, “yeah, I lied before when I took the plea.” How you could put that individual on the stand and take the oath is going to be really something to watch. If lightning doesn’t strike the courthouse, I will be very surprised.

Watch above via Fox News.