Ari Fleischer Urges Trump to Go After Judge’s Daughter — And Violate His Gag Order

Fox News contributor and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer offered some questionable advice for former President Donald Trump on Friday, advising the criminal defendant to go after the judge’s daughter again, even though that would likely violate his gag order.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts for falsifying business records regarding alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election — a historic first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. The ex-president has made headlines for reportedly falling asleep repeatedly and his ongoing grumbling about the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan.

The original terms of the gag order prohibited Trump from discussing witnesses, jurors or prospective jurors, prosecutors, or court staff. Merchan soon expanded that to include his relatives and relatives of the district attorney, specifically in response to social media posts Trump made attacking his daughter.

So far, Merchan has ruled that Trump has committed multiple violations of the gag order (including attacks on Merchan’s daughter), imposing $1,000 fines for each transgression, and even issued a scathing warning that the ex-president’s “constant attacks…constitute a direct attack on the rule of law,” and since the $1,000 fines seemed to be “not serving as a deterrent,” he “cannot allow that to continue” and the threat of incarceration was in fact very real.

The panel on Fox News’ Outnumbered discussed the trial Friday, whether or not it was helpful for Trump politically, and if a conviction would affect how Americans vote in November.

Emily Compagno commented that there was polling showing a “rising amount of Americans” who said they will vote for Trump even if he is convicted. “He is, in fact, a martyr now,” she said, before turning to Fleischer for his take.

“Politically, I have long argued that this is a high-risk case for the prosecution to make,” replied Fleischer, because even if Trump is found guilty, “so many Americans are going to dismiss it” because Manhattan is a “Democrat stronghold.”

“And if he’s not guilty, or if it’s a hung jury, then I think it propels Donald Trump,” he continued, “because he went into the ring with a heavyweight, on the heavyweight’s home turf, and beat him.”

“One quick final word,” Fleischer said. “President Trump needs to stop calling the judge conflicted — he needs to explain why he’s conflicted. Every day of the trial, he goes in there, he says the judge is conflicted, conflicted bigger than I’ve seen anywhere in my life. He doesn’t explain how or why. He needs to say that the judge’s daughter works for a Democratic political consulting firm that does anti-Trump business. He needs to explain it. Otherwise, it’s just an assertion with no proof, and the president, if he is going to say it, back it up, explain it.”

“I think that is a violation of the gag order,” said Dagen McDowell, “Is it not?”

“No, he can criticize the judge,” said Kayleigh McEnany. “He’s free to do that.”

“Not the judge, but the family,” replied McDowell. “That’s an issue.”

Several of the other co-hosts replied they thought McDowell’s point was right, but Fleischer pressed on, insisting “because the judge is conflicted, you can still explain how and why, and I think, comply with the gag order.”

“I might be wrong,” said McDowell. “But President Trump is trying to be careful in his language. That is why he is very –”

“Measured,” McEnany suggested to describe Trump’s comments, adding, “he was editing in real time today.”

“But his surrogates don’t have to be,” said Lisa Boothe.

“The assumption that people know why the judge is conflicted does not hold up unless you follow every detail of the trial,” Fleischer concluded.

Fleischer, as he noted at the beginning of the segment, is not an attorney.

Trump has taken several notable steps to comply with the gag order, deleting several Truth Social posts and content from his website after Merchan ruled they were violations, and verbally censoring himself during a pre-court rant Friday morning as he discussed several articles he found favorable to himself to avoid committing more violations.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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