Former President Trump's legal team filed a motion requesting Judge Juan Merchan's recusal from the hush money trial due to his daughter's Democrat-affiliated political work and alleged hostility towards Trump. Merchan's daughter is involved in a company that services exclusively Democrat clients and is ranked #21 in connection with the 2024 election. The trial is related to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation into alleged hush money payments before the 2016 election, with Bragg examining payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Donald Trump's attorneys are seeking to have Judge Juan Merchan removed from the New York hush money trial, pointing to the judge's daughter's employment at a political firm that worked with Joe Biden's campaign in 2020. They also argue that a recent gag order against Trump affects the case. The attorneys claim there is a risk of bias due to the judge's daughter's connections to President Biden. The prosecutors have responded that there are no new circumstances to reconsider Merchan's earlier decision denying Trump's recusal.
Judge Juan Merchan in New York blocks Donald Trump's legal team from forcing NBC to hand over materials related to a recent documentary about Stormy Daniels. The ruling, just before the April 15 trial, pertains to 34 felony counts against Trump for alleged falsifying of business records for hush money payments. The judge called the subpoena a 'fishing expedition' lacking legal merit. Trump, facing multiple criminal cases, allegedly concealed hush money payments through his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Stormy Daniels, central to the case, is expected to serve as a key witness despite defense attempts to delay the trial pending Supreme Court rulings on presidential immunity claims.
Former President Trump's attorneys have filed a motion to adjourn the trial related to hush money payments until after the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity in the case Trump v United States. The trial is set to begin on March 25 in New York City, with Judge Juan Merchan scheduling six weeks for the proceedings. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
During a discussion on MSNBC's Deadline: White House, host Nicole Wallace passionately criticized Donald Trump's attacks on New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan's daughter, Loren, amid the hush money trial. Wallace expressed frustration over the need for gag orders due to threats towards judges and their families, highlighting Trump's disregard for the rule of law. Justice Merchan recently imposed a gag order on Trump regarding the trial, prompting prosecutors to seek clarification.
By 2020, the Manhattan district attorney (DA) had opened a criminal case to determine whether The Trump Organization had committed financial fraud. In December 2022, two of the organization's subsidiary companies were found guilty of 17 charges including tax fraud. On March 30, 2023, Donald Trump was criminally indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in tandem with an alleged catch and kill operation to suppress negative press during his 2016 campaign, largely revolving around the hush-money payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. Trump is the first former U.S. president to be criminally charged. On April 4, he pleaded not guilty. Further proceedings took place over subsequent months, with a trial scheduled for March 25, 2024.The organization ceased a number of illegal practices around the time of Trump's election as U.S. president, some of which had reputedly been executed since the 1980s. Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. reportedly began scrutinizing the company in 2018 related to Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen's hush-money payment to Daniels. By mid-2021, New York State Attorney General Letitia James had joined the DA's criminal inquiry, with the latter convening a grand jury. Prosecutors filed 10 charges against the organization, alleging that it had conducted a 15-year "scheme to defraud" the government, and 15 felony counts against longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who agreed to a plea deal in August 2022—during Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's tenure. After the organization's conviction, the DA returned to the hush-money scandal as part of its larger probe.Evidence against the organization indicates that Weisselberg and other executives—as well as the two subsidiaries—participated in fraudulent schemes, including recording some employee bonuses as pay for contract work. Trump family members allegedly intended no wrongdoing despite signing relevant checks.Some conservative pundits denounced the investigation, with the Republican National Committee paying some of Trump's legal fees, while Democrats generally endorsed it. After Trump's indictment, Republican U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan organized a hearing against Bragg, leading the DA to sue him for alleged interference.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeks to dismiss Trump's request for a trial delay, with the judge granting a 30-day postponement to review new evidence, setting the trial date for April 15. Trump's legal team argues for a 90-day delay, citing discovery process violations and requesting a hearing on the matter. Over 170,000 documents were turned over, with fewer than 300 deemed relevant for Trump's defense. The case alleges falsifying business records tied to hush-money payments, with key witness Cohen's notes from the Mueller investigation included in the evidence.
Former President Donald Trump criticized Judge Juan Merchan and his daughter after a gag order was imposed in his criminal trial in New York, barring him from speaking about the case. The gag order prohibits public statements about witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff but does not apply to remarks about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump accused Judge Merchan of trying to deprive him of his First Amendment rights and attacked Merchans daughter for using an image of Trump behind bars as a profile picture on social media.
Youre reading Guardian USs free Trump on Trial newsletter. To get the latest court developments delivered to your inbox, sign up here . Its official: Donald Trump will become the first former president in US history to face a criminal trial. On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan set a date of 15 April for Trumps New York hush-money trial, rejecting requests from Trumps attorneys to delay it by at least 90 days. At that hearing, which took place on the day the trial had initially been scheduled to begin, Merchan seemed irritated by Trumps teams attempts for more delay, pressing them repeatedly on their claims that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg s office had dragged its feet on turning over thousands of pages of evidence when it was federal prosecutors offices who had those documents.
Manhattan prosecutors are seeking a judge's clarification on a gag order regarding former President Donald Trump's social media posts criticizing the judge's daughter, asking if the order extends to protecting family members of the court, district attorney's office, and other individuals. Trump's fiery posts on Truth Social targeted Judge Juan Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, leading prosecutors to request an end to attacks on family members to prevent intimidation of witnesses and prospective jurors.
Former White House communications director Hope Hicks is expected to testify in the criminal trial against Donald Trump in New York regarding falsifying business records related to hush money paid to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Hicks previously denied knowledge of the hush money payment but was allegedly involved in negotiations to prevent Daniels from going public with her claims. The trial, scheduled to start on April 15, includes key witnesses such as Cohen and Daniels, with Trump pleading not guilty to the charges.
Former Trump aide Hope Hicks is set to testify for the prosecution in Trump's New York hush money trial, involving falsified business records to cover up payments made to hide an affair during his 2016 campaign. Hicks, who denies prior knowledge of payments, is believed to have been involved in negotiating a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump faces multiple criminal cases and has labelled the charges as political, pleading not guilty. His former attorney, Michael Cohen, is cooperating with prosecutors. The trial is scheduled for April 15, with Daniels expected to testify.
On January 12, 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that in October 2016, just before the 2016 United States presidential election, Michael Cohen, lawyer for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, arranged a payment of US$130,000 to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to stop her disclosing an affair she and Trump allegedly had in 2006. Daniels had signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). At first, Cohen denied Trump had the alleged affair and sought to suppress the allegation based on the NDA, but a month later publicly acknowledged making the payment.Besides allegations surrounding the details of the affair itself, the acknowledged payment raised legal and ethical questions as to whether the payment violated federal campaign finance laws, either because the payment was not duly disclosed as a campaign contribution or because campaign funds may have been used towards the payment. On February 13, Cohen said he paid the money out of his own pocket, not as a campaign contribution; and that neither The Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign reimbursed him for making it. On April 5, Trump said he had no knowledge of Cohen's payment; but on April 26 admitted for the first time that Cohen represented him in "the Stormy Daniels deal". On May 2, Trump's new lawyer Rudy Giuliani said that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the payment.In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges, including a campaign finance violation for Daniels's payment. He stated under oath that he paid her "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office". Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison on various charges, and was disbarred.Daniels filed three lawsuits against Trump and/or Cohen. In the first lawsuit she argued that the NDA was invalid. She won the lawsuit, though it was dismissed after Trump and Cohen agreed not to enforce the NDA. A California court subsequently ordered Trump pay $44,100 to reimburse her legal fees. She lost the second lawsuit, in which she argued she was defamed, and was ordered to pay almost $300,000 in legal fees and court sanctions. In the third lawsuit she claimed that Cohen colluded with her previous attorney Keith Davidson against her interests when he negotiated the payment. The lawsuit did not name Trump as a defendant, and settled in May 2019.Trump's accounting firm, Mazars, provided his tax returns and related documents to the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., following the outcome of the Supreme Court's Trump v. Vance ruling in February 2021. Although an internal report said there was "reason to believe" Trump's campaign had knowingly violated campaign finance law, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) abandoned an inquiry into the payment to Daniels. The FEC's vote on May 6, 2021, split 2–2 along party lines.On March 30, 2023, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump for his alleged role in the scandal. Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan district court on April 4.
In the criminal hush money case involving Donald Trump, the judge has broadened the gag order on the former president to include prohibiting him from criticising his family members or those of Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg. Trump denies concealing hush money payments to an adult film actress before the 2016 election. The expanded order came after Trump's online attacks on the judge's daughter. Trump's camp called the gag order unconstitutional, but the judge emphasized the need to protect the integrity of the judicial proceedings.
A New York judge has placed a gag order on Donald Trump ahead of his criminal hush money case that begins on April 15. The order prohibits Trump from making public statements about court staff, jurors, witnesses, and lawyers in the district attorney's office. The campaign claims the order violates Trump's free speech rights. Trump is facing 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Justice Juan Merchan granted the gag order after a request from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, citing Trump's history of attacking opponents.
Former California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell urges immediate consequences, including jail time, if former President Donald Trump violates court orders. Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, who has criticized Merchan on his Truth Social platform. Cordell calls for an expanded gag order to include Merchan, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and their families to prevent threats and intimidation towards the court system.
Juan Manuel Merchan (born 1962/1963) is an American judge and former prosecutor currently serving as an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court in New York County (Manhattan).
The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump is a pending criminal case against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. On March 30, 2023, Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his alleged role in a scandal relating to hush money payments made to the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, making him the first U.S. president to be indicted. Trump faces 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree, carrying a maximum sentence of 136 years if Trump is convicted on all counts.Trump traveled from his residence in Florida to New York City on April 3, 2023 where he surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney's office on the afternoon of April 4. After his arraignment, he immediately returned to Florida. The trial was set for March 25, 2024.Throughout the investigation that led to the indictment, Trump accused district attorney Alvin Bragg—the case's prosecutor—of having political motivations. Months before he was indicted, Trump declared that he would run in the 2024 presidential election; neither the indictment nor any resulting conviction would disqualify his candidacy.
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States (in office from 2017 to 2021), began on February 9, 2021, and concluded with his acquittal on February 13. Donald Trump had been impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives on January 13, 2021. The House adopted one article of impeachment against Trump: incitement of insurrection. He is the only U.S. president and only federal official to be impeached twice. He was impeached by the House seven days prior to the expiration of his term and the inauguration of Joe Biden. Because he left office before the trial, this was the first impeachment trial of a former president. The article of impeachment addressed Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results (including his claims of election fraud and his efforts to pressure election officials in Georgia) and stated that Trump incited the attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., while Congress was convened to count the electoral votes and certify the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.At the beginning of the trial, Senator Rand Paul forced a vote to dismiss the impeachment charge on the basis that it was unconstitutional to try a former president, arguing that impeachment only applies to current federal officers and that the punishment of removal from office was moot under the circumstances. Supporters of proceeding with the trial argued that the Constitution also permits disqualification from holding future office, which the House had requested in its article of impeachment. The motion was defeated in a 55–45 vote, with all Democrats, both independents, and five Republicans (Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania) voting against the motion. This was the first time that a former president had been tried, and only the second time the Senate tried someone who had already left office, after Secretary of War William W. Belknap in 1876. Jamie Raskin was the lead impeachment manager and the primary author – along with Representative David Cicilline and Representative Ted Lieu – of the impeachment article, which charged Trump with inciting an insurrection by sparking the Capitol attack. Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Madeleine Dean, and Stacey Plaskett also assisted in delivering the oral arguments for conviction.Trump's defense was led by Michael van der Veen, a personal injury lawyer from Philadelphia, along with David Schoen and Bruce Castor. Van der Veen's style and substance during the trial drew ridicule and criticism from many, with gasps and laughter in the Senate when he stated that he would seek to depose at least 100 people at his Philadelphia office, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump had originally hired Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier to represent him, but they quit along with three other lawyers after "the former president wanted the lawyers representing him to focus on his allegations of mass election fraud" and his false claim that "the election was stolen from him."At the conclusion of the trial, the Senate voted 57–43 to convict Trump of inciting insurrection, falling 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution, and Trump was therefore acquitted. Seven Republican senators joined all Democratic and independent senators in voting to convict Trump, the largest bipartisan vote for an impeachment conviction of a U.S. president or former U.S. president. After the vote on the acquittal, Mitch McConnell said there is no doubt that Trump is practically and morally responsible for inciting the events at the Capitol but he voted against conviction due to his interpretation of the United States Constitution.
Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford (born Stephanie A. Gregory; March 17, 1979), known professionally as Stormy Daniels, is an American pornographic film actress, director and former stripper. She has won many industry awards and is a member of the NightMoves Hall of Fame, AVN Hall of Fame and XRCO Hall of Fame. In 2009 a recruitment effort led her to consider challenging incumbent David Vitter in the 2010 Senate election in her native Louisiana.In 2018, Daniels became involved in a legal dispute with U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to silence her about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied the affair and accused her of lying.
Former President Trump's lawyers stated that he has been unable to secure a $464 million appeal bond required in his New York civil fraud case. Despite this, a former federal prosecutor mentioned that Trump may have a sound legal case to reduce or eliminate the bond, citing a potential Eighth Amendment defense. The New York State Attorney General plans to enforce the bond if not secured, potentially leading to the seizure of Trump's assets in New York, including The Trump Building and Trump Tower.
Former US President Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond in New York to prevent the state from seizing his assets in a civil fraud case. Trump had been given 10 days to make the payment, which was reduced from $454 million. If he loses an appeal, he will be liable to pay the full amount plus daily interest. Additionally, Trump faces restrictions on verbal attacks towards the family members of a judge in a separate trial involving hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.
E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump is the name of two related lawsuits by author E. Jean Carroll against Donald Trump, who served as the 45th president of the United States. The two suits resulted in a total of $88.3 million in damages. Both cases, presided over by Judge Lewis Kaplan, related to Carroll's accusation from mid-2019 (while Trump was in office) that he sexually assaulted her in late 1995 or early 1996. Trump denied the allegations, prompting Carroll to sue him for defamation in November 2019 (a.k.a. Carroll I).In November 2022, Carroll filed her second suit against Trump (a.k.a. Carroll II), renewing her claim of defamation and added a claim of battery under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law allowing sexual-assault victims to file civil suits beyond expired statutes of limitations. This suit went to trial in April 2023. Evidence included testimony from two friends Carroll spoke to after the incident, a photograph of Carroll with Trump in 1987, testimony from two women who had separately accused Trump of sexual assault, footage from the Trump Access Hollywood tape and his October 2022 deposition. A verdict in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages. Trump appealed and made an unsuccessful counterclaim. In July, Judge Kaplan clarified that the jury had found that Trump had raped Carroll according to the common definition of the word.In September 2023, Kaplan issued a partial summary judgment regarding Carroll I, finding Trump liable for defamation via his 2019 statements. The verdict from the January 2024 trial was $83.3 million in additional damages.
The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws (federal law violations in Manhattan are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York). The current district attorney is Alvin Bragg. He was elected in 2021 to succeed Cyrus Vance Jr.District attorneys are legally permitted to delegate the prosecution of petty crimes or offenses. Prosecutors do not normally handle New York City Criminal Court summons court cases, and the Manhattan district attorney has a memorandum of understanding with the New York City Police Department allowing their legal bureau to selectively prosecute them.
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alice-herman
NY Post
Yahoo! News
The Huffington Post
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
NBC
Fox News
NPR
Marshall Cohen
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
PANORA
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
PANORA
PANORA
Wikipedia
Wikipedia