A key ally of Donald Trump filed a complaint Tuesday against a district judge out of Washington, DC, who appeared on CNN last week and took jabs at the former president.
US District Judge Reggie Walton went on the cable news network to discuss Trump’s attacks on the judge overseeing his “hush money” case out of Manhattan and was openly critical of the 45th president.
Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project, an advocacy group that pushes for the nominations of conservative judges, ripped Walton’s CNN appearance as “judicial misconduct.”
“We are seeing a dangerous pattern in which DC federal judges, like … Reggie Walton have convinced themselves they have a duty — unbounded by the judicial canons — to make extrajudicial pronouncements about President Trump,” Davis wrote in a 13-page complaint.
Davis’ complaint was addressed to Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
He told The Post that his goal is for Walton to get reprimanded and to “send a very clear message” to other judges, especially in DC, that they “cannot take off their political robes and climb into the political arena.”
In his complaint, Davis highlighted a provision in the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, stipulating that judges have an obligation not to “denigrate public confidence in the judiciary’s integrity.”
“It is much worse when a different judge — especially a sitting federal judge — thinks it is his job to moonlight as a CNN commentator on a pending criminal case in another judge’s court,” he added.
During his appearance on CNN last Thursday, Walton opined on Trump’s Truth Social screed against Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, whose daughter Loren Merchan helms the Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm.
At the time, Trump had made posts alleging that Judge Merchan suffered from “acute Trump derangement syndrome” and was “totally compromised.”
He also complained about Loren Merchan, peddling questionable claims about her social media activity.
“Well, it’s very disconcerting to have someone making comments about a judge, and it’s particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they are directed at one’s family,” Walton told CNN.
Walton further recalled how both he and his daughter had been threatened in the past and warned about the hurdles that can pose to upholding the rule of law.
Davis disputed Walton’s suggestion that Trump threatened Merchan, arguing that the former president merely “articulated the reason why he believes he will not receive a fair trial” under him.
“A reasonable person cannot read President Trump’s posts and draw the conclusion that he made any such threat,” Davis argued. “President Trump, for example, did not dox the home addresses of the judge and his adult daughter. Nor did President Trump encourage illegal protests outside of their homes.”
In addition to Walton’s CNN appearance, the DC-based judge has previously called Trump a “charlatan,” saying, “I don’t think he cares about democracy, only power” and questioned whether Trump would accept defeat.
“I made the comments I made in the context of the sentencing I’ve imposed because I’m hoping what I say to the individuals I’m sentencing will resonate,” Walton, who has overseen a handful of Capitol riot cases, explained on CNN last Thursday.
Davis, a former congressional aide who played a key role in advancing conservative judicial nominees, contended that Walton’s public punditry was the wrong way to remedy the situation.
“If the criminal defendant truly makes violent threats, a prosecutor can charge him with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and related crimes,” he wrote.
“But we have entered very dangerous territory as a country when attorneys accuse a criminal defendant of making a ‘violent threat’ against a judge for simply raising evidence of the judge’s potential bias.”
Davis further warned that Walton’s actions could have poisoned a potential jury pool as the selection is set to commence on April 15 for the “hush money” case, in which Trump is facing 34 criminal counts.
“Judge Walton’s clear violation is highly prejudicial to President Trump, as it taints four different jury pools,” he added.
Davis warned The Post that by appearing on CNN, Walton is creating what could “quickly become a very dangerous, slippery slope where you can do this to politically disfavored defendants.”
He stressed that he would do the same against conservative judges who were going on national television to cast aspersions against a high-profile Democratic criminal defendant.
Over the weekend, Trump shared a story first reported by The Post detailing how clients of Loren Merchan cashed in on the criminal case pending against the former president.
On Monday, Judge Merchan extended a gag order he previously imposed against Trump prohibiting him from disparaging witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, etc., to include the judge’s family members.
“Normally attorneys advise their clients, especially criminal defendants to avoid public statements, especially criticisms of judges, but Trump correctly understands that this is lawfare and election interference by these Democrat judges and prosecutors,” Davis told The Post.
