Trump lawyers ask judge in New York hush-money case to step aside | Donald Trump

[ad_1]

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked former New York criminal trial judge Juan Manuel Merchan to step aside because of what they say is bias and a conflict of interest stemming from his daughters’ work for top Democrats. .

In April, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records, stemming from his $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed an affair he denied , shortly before the 2016 election.

After his arraignment, Trump complained that Merchan was a Trump-hating judge from a family of Trump haters.

On Friday, Trump’s lawyers alleged that Merchan, a respected Manhattan criminal court juror, acted in two other cases by involving himself in plea negotiations for Trump’s longtime finance chief. Trump and asking him to testify against Trumps company in exchange for a five-month sentence.

The Trumps’ lawyers, Susan Necheles and Todd Blanche, also asked Merchan to explain three donations totaling $35 made to Democratic causes in his name in 2020.

Merchan did not respond to questions about the donations, which included $15 for Joe Biden’s campaign against Trump, according to federal records. Such contributions are generally prohibited under court rules.

The Trumps’ criminal case is historic and it is important that the people of New York state and this country have confidence that the jury presiding over it will be impartial, the Trumps’ lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss.

Merchan denied such a request when the Trumps’ company was sued. Trump’s lawyers may also make a play to raise the issue on appeal. They also submitted 42 pages of alleged evidence of Merchans’ bias.

The hush-money case continues in state court as Trump’s lawyers seek to move it to federal court, which would remove Merchan. A federal judge has set a hearing for June 27.

Merchan has appeared polite and helpful in his limited interactions with Trump, refusing to issue a gag order even after the former president, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, and others lashed out at him.

In a recent hearing, Merchan said he bent over backwards to make sure he didn’t prevent Trump from having every opportunity possible to advance his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trumps recusal motion expands on previous criticism of Merchan.

The Merchans’ daughter, Loren, is a political consultant whose firm has worked for prominent Democrats including Biden and the vice-president, Kamala Harris. Trump could face Biden again at the polls next year. He and his allies claim a witch-hunt against him.

I have a judge who hates Trump with a wife and a family who hates Trump whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris, Trump said, hours after his April arraignment.

Trump also alleged that Merchan assaulted former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg in a guilty plea and acted with violence in leading the company’s trial, which culminated in a tax fraud conviction in December.

Merchan was involved in the negotiations that led to Weisselbergs plea to charges that he evaded taxes. Merchan said she wanted to impose a harsher penalty after hearing Weisselberg testify, especially when she talked about her husband taking $6,000 for a no-show job to qualify for social security benefits.

Those charges are preludes to Trump’s historic indictment. Trump ended up in the Merchans courtroom because of a round in which judges assigned to oversee grand juries handle cases that come out. Merchan often handles financial cases.

Now 60, Merchan came to the US from Colombia as a six-year-old and grew up in New York City. The first member of his family to attend college, he worked his way through school and earned a law degree from Hofstra University.

He was a Manhattan prosecutor and worked in the state attorney generals office before becoming a family court judge in 2006. Three years later, Merchan was appointed to the state supreme court.

[ad_2]