Donald Trump's campaign said the former president did not violate a judge's gag order in his Manhattan criminal trial following reports he deleted a social media post Tuesday morning within an hour of initially posting it.
In the alleged post, Trump complained that his legal team did not have sufficient time to prepare for the next witness in the criminal trial, The Hill reported.
"The gag order imposed by conflicted Judge Juan Merchan in the lawless Manhattan DA case is unconstitutional and un-American. President Trump has not violated this wrongful edict by a partisan operative," campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Newsmax.
"The threat to throw in jail the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World Authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades."
Merchan on Monday said he would hold the former president in contempt of court for a 10th time for violating a gag order and said he would consider jailing him for further violations.
Following Monday's court proceedings, Trump brushed aside the judge's warning of jail time, saying that "our Constitution is much more important than jail."
In a since-deleted Truth Social post at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Trump said he has "just recently been told who the witness is today," The Hill reported.
"This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare," the former president wrote. "No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way."
NBC News reported that adult film star Stormy Daniels was expected to testify Tuesday in the New York trial.
Trump also reportedly lambasted Merchan in the Truth Social post.
"He is CROOKED & HIGHLY CONFLICTED, even taking away my First Amendment Rights. Now he's threatening me with JAIL & THEY HAVE NO CASE — This according to virtually all Legal Scholars & Experts! Why isn't the Fake News Media reporting his Conflict?" Trump said, The Hill reported.
Although it has a list of potential witnesses, Trump's legal team isn't told who will take the stand until shortly beforehand.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's team has indicated they have not provided a longer heads up due Trump's recent posts about witnesses.
"We still don't know the next witness," Trump attorney Todd Blanche said in the courtroom Monday afternoon, The Hill reported.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, however, told the judge he didn't "like the impression being left that we are somehow sandbagging the defense."
Steinglass indicated his team was planning to notify the defense about the next witness shortly after Monday's proceedings.