New York Judge Juan Merchan has used a gag order to strip former President Donald Trump of the ability to comment on his hush money trial.

However, this week demonstrated that Merchan is powerless to prevent Trump's allies from speaking on the former president's behalf.

Sen. J.D. Vance raises questions about Michael Cohen's credibility

Newsweek noted that a number of high profile Republicans have traveled to New York and spoken to reporters outside the court building.

They include Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who took aim at testimony by disgraced former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

"This guy is a convicted felon who admitted in his testimony that he secretly recorded his former employer, that he only did it once allegedly, and that this was supposed to help Donald Trump," Newsweek was quoted as saying on Monday.

"Does any reasonable, sensible person believe anything that Michael Cohen says?" the freshman lawmaker went on to demand.

Vivek Ramaswamy points to financial interest of judge's daughter

For his part, Tuberville called Trump's prosecution that "most depressing thing I've ever been in" and argued that it is politically motivated.

He asserted that "[m]ental anguish is trying to be pushed on the Republican candidate for the president of the United States."

Meanwhile, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy went after the judge in a lengthy social media post.

This sham trial is a politically motivated assault on the leading candidate for U.S. President, green lit by his political opponent, Joe Biden, and carried out at the highest levels of the White House and Department of Justice. Joe Biden’s former number #3 at the Department…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 14, 2024

He noted that Merchan's daughter serves as chief operating officer and president of Authentic Campaigns, a Democrat-aligned political consulting firm.

Daughter's consulting firm used Trump's trial to raise funds for Adam Schiff

Its clients have included President Joe Biden, Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, with the New York Post reporting that the company used Trump's trial to fundraise on Schiff's behalf.

"The irony here is that the crime is supposedly about bad bookkeeping, but the real bookkeeping scandal is how to account for Judge Merchan’s own family members being paid millions of dollars by Democratic operatives," Ramaswamy wrote.

"The American people will deliver the ultimate verdict in November: say NO to the weaponization of justice," he went on to add.