Former President Donald Trump is set to be arraigned Tuesday after a grand jury voted to indict him last week.
Judge Juan Merchan, an incredibly seasoned judge, will be overseeing the case. He's no stranger to Donald Trump's world. In fact, he's already sentenced the former president's former CFO to spend time in jail.
The acting New York Supreme Court judge presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial and sentenced Trump's longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, to serve five months in jail.
Judge Merchan is described in the legal community as being tough, but compassionate and a man of his word, CNN reports.
Trump heads to New York as he prepares to for court
The former president is leaving his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and will be arriving at LaGuardia Airport in New York Monday afternoon.
When he sentenced Weisselberg, Merchan said if he hadn't already been promised a five-month sentence, he would have handed down a much heftier one after hearing additional evidence. Merchan also oversaw former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's criminal fraud case. When attorneys asked for a delay for more time to review evidence, Merchan didn't hold back and was pretty quick to scold the legal team.
On Truth Social, Trump weighed in on Judge Merchan. He said, "The judge 'assigned' to my witch hunt case, a 'case' that has never been charged before, hates me. His name is Juan Merchan. He was hand picked by Bragg and the prosecutors and is the same person who 'railroaded' my 75-year-old former CFO Allen Weisselberg to take a 'plea deal.'" Trump then goes on to say, "He strong armed Allen, which a judge is not allowed to do, and treated my companies, which didn't 'plead,' viciously."
In another post on Sunday, Trump further criticized DA Bragg, calling him corrupt. He also called Merchan a "Trump hating judge."
This case is expected to be Merchan's most high profile case yet, as Trump is the first U.S. president in history to be charged with a crime.
