Just weeks before he is slated to take office for his second term, Presidential-elect Donald Trump had a very visceral and very public meltdown over the bombshell news that New York Justice Juan Merchan has issued an official order that formally refuses to allow Trump to utilize presidential immunity to overturn his historical felony conviction in the infamous Manhattan Hush Money case.

Earlier this year, Donald Trump went down in American history in the worst kind of way when he became the very first United States president (sitting or former) to be convicted of a felony crime.

Ultimately, he wasn’t just convicted on one charge, or even two, but rather a staggering 34 felony charges, all related to the Hush Money payments that were made to adult film star and alleged former Trump affair partner, Stormy Daniels, and the subsequent efforts to cover that 6-figure payment up in the midst of a presidential election that he was a candidate in.

The former president turned 2024 President-elect reacted to this news exactly as expected, taking to his Truth Social account where he released a rage-fueled statement on the matter, writing:

BREAKING: In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity. But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax.”

Justice Merchan has not yet made a decision as to whether or not the outcome of Donald Trump’s infamous Manhattan jury trial should be set aside for the time being, given Donald’s impending presidential inauguration next month. Trump’s attorneys have argued that the entire verdict should be dismissed, citing the recent US Supreme Court ruling on a separate case against Trump that determined that United States presidents have presidential immunity for any and all official acts undertaken while in office.

“Merchan, who is a radical partisan, wrote an opinion that is knowingly unlawful, goes against our Constitution, and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it,” the President-elect’s furious statement continued. “Merchan has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping in place an illegal gag order on me, your President and President-Elect, just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts.”

To add insult to injury from Trump’s vantage point, the US Supreme Court also handed down a ruling on Monday that rejected a request from the Trump legal team to lift the gag order that was imposed against Donald, prohibiting him from making public comments on witnesses, prosecutors, jurors, or court staffers and their family members. Judge Merchan himself is not covered by the gag order against Donald Trump.

That Supreme Court order stated simply, “The application for stay addressed to Justice [Clarence] Thomas and referred to the Court is denied.”

Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0