WASHINGTON — After years of criticizing Donald Trump, the president&#8217;s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is admitting that he was &#8220;pressured&#8221; and &#8220;coerced&#8221; by Alvin Bragg and Letitia James to testify against Donald Trump.
In an astonishing <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-184816368">Substack post published Friday evening</a>, Cohen writes that he &#8220;felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government’s desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump.&#8221; He said the feeling began from his very first meetings with the lawyers working with Bragg and James, New York&#8217;s attorney general. 
Specifically regarding James, he said he felt &#8220;compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking.&#8221;
&#8220;Letitia James made it publicly known during her 2018 campaign for attorney general that, if elected, she would go after President Trump,&#8221; Cohen writes in the post. &#8220;Her office made clear that the testimony they wanted from me was testimony that would help them do just that. Again, I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking.&#8221;
In a Friday night phone conversation, Donald Trump told The Daily Wire that this was further proof that it was a &#8220;very corrupt investigation&#8221; that Cohen testified in. Trump has long held that Cohen is a liar, and was only cooperating to get his prison sentence reduced.
Cohen writes about the two trials in which he testified against Donald Trump: the first, a civil action brought by the New York attorney general&#8217;s office accusing Trump of fraudulently inflating his assets to get favorable loans. The second case was a criminal action by the Manhattan District Attorney&#8217;s Office alleging that Trump falsified business records related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to influence the 2016 presidential election.
The jury found Trump guilty in both cases.
<div id="attachment_1029249" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-michael-cohen-says-he-was-coerced-and-pressured-by-bragg-james-to-testify-against-trump/former-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-testifies-before-house-oversight-committee-4" rel="attachment wp-att-1029249"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1029249" class="wp-image-1029249 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745676.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, prepares to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill, February 27, 201,9 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</div>
Cohen served prison time after he pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress. He also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> during Trump’s hush money trial that he stole tens of thousands from the Trump Organization in 2017.
In his Substack article, Cohen notes that a federal appeals court just revived the president&#8217;s effort to undo his hush money conviction. He reflects that silently letting the record stand without proper context feels like complicity, prompting him to speak out.
&#8220;I am not writing this to defend Donald Trump, nor to relitigate his conduct,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;That ground has been plowed endlessly, often loudly, and rarely thoughtfully. I am writing because I have seen this system from the inside, not as an observer or analyst, but as a central subpoenaed participant. When courts now revisit questions of jurisdiction, immunity, and evidentiary boundaries, they are not engaging in sterile procedural debates. They are exposing how justice is pursued, how power is applied, and how outcomes are shaped well before verdicts are rendered.&#8221; 
Cohen writes that he first met with prosecutors from the Manhattan DA&#8217;s office in August 2019, three months into his three-year prison sentence. He was released in September 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and for good behavior and allowed to serve out the rest of his term at home until November 2021.
<div id="attachment_1029251" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-michael-cohen-says-he-was-coerced-and-pressured-by-bragg-james-to-testify-against-trump/former-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-testifies-before-house-oversight-committee-5" rel="attachment wp-att-1029251"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1029251" class="wp-image-1029251 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-1127745692.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump is sworn in before testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)</div>
He says he continued meeting with prosecutors after his release in the hope that his home confinement and supervised release would be shorter because he was cooperating. He also writes that the reason he cooperated with the prosecutors from the Manhattan DA’s office was that he wanted to get out of prison and home to his family. 
&#8220;During my time with prosecutors, both in preparation for and during the trials, it was clear they were interested only in testimony from me that would enable them to convict President Trump,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;When my testimony was insufficient for a point the prosecution sought to make, prosecutors frequently asked inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative.&#8221; 
Cohen says that he also felt coerced and pressured into giving answers that supported the narrative from James, as her office made it very clear to him that they wanted testimony that would help them go after Trump.
&#8220;Letitia James and Alvin Bragg may not share the same office or political calendar, but they share the same playbook,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;Both used their platforms to elevate their profiles, to claim the mantle of the officials who &#8216;took down Trump.&#8217; In doing so, they blurred the line between justice and politics; and in that blur, the credibility of both suffered.&#8221;
As for why he is speaking out now, Cohen says he has &#8220;witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative.&#8221; 
&#8220;I have lived inside that process,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;I have suffered from that process. And as courts now reconsider where the Bragg and James cases belong, how they were brought and how they were tried; that experience is relevant. More today than ever before.&#8221; 
&#8220;When politics and prosecution become indistinguishable, public trust erodes; not just in individual cases, like mine and/or Trump’s, but in the system itself,&#8221; he concludes. &#8220;That erosion serves no one, regardless of party, personality, or power.&#8221;

Michael Cohen Appears Before New York Grand Jury While Speculation Over A Trump Indictment Grows

BREAKING: Michael Cohen Says He Was ‘Coerced’ And ‘Pressured’ By Bragg, James To Testify Against Trump

Alvin Bragg

Donald Trump

Letitia James

Michael Cohen

Prosecutors say Luigi Mangione kept diaries chronicling in chilling detail his plans to assassinate UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and revealing he backed off of a mass-casualty attack he had initially conceived.
The self-proclaimed anti-capitalist wrote in his manifesto that he chose to &#8220;wack the CEO&#8221; rather than bomb the UnitedHealthcare headquarters because he believed it would generate better headlines and be less likely to be deemed &#8220;terrorism,&#8221; according to court documents <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/luigi-mangione-da-omnibus-response.pdf">revealed</a> this week.
&#8220;So say you want to rebel against the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel. Do you bomb the HQ? No. Bombs=terrorism,&#8221; Mangione allegedly wrote in a red spiral notebook found in his backpack upon his arrest five days after the shooting.
Manhattan prosecutors are confident that this is “open and shut case,” pointing to evidence continuing to pile up indicating that Mangione’s goal was “to send a message.”
In parts of the diaries that had been previously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/10/nyregion/luigi-mangione-manifesto.html">released</a>, Mangione reasoned that someone should &#8220;wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It&#8217;s targeted and precise and doesn&#8217;t risk innocents.&#8221;
The University of Pennsylvania graduate justified targeting insurance providers because they &#8220;literally extract human life force for money,&#8221; and seemed fixated on how his actions would be perceived by the public, adding that &#8220;the point is made in the news headline &#8216;Insurance CEO killed at annual investors conference.&#8217; It conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.&#8221;
Mangione expressed relief that he had not followed through with a mass-casualty event, allegedly writing, &#8220;I’m glad — in a way — that I’ve procrastinated [because] it allowed me to learn more about UHC.&#8221;
“KMD would’ve been an unjustified catastrophe that would be perceived mostly as sick, but more importantly unhelpful,” Magione allegedly wrote of a potential attack in his home state of Maryland.
The accused assassin reportedly came to this conclusion by analyzing the public reaction to Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber.
&#8220;Ted K makes some good points on the future of humanity, but to make his point he indiscriminately mailbombs innocents. Normies categorize him as an insane serial killer, focus on the act/atrocities themselves, and dismiss his ideas,” Mangione wrote, apparently having a desire for his act of violence to be as palatable as possible for &#8220;normies&#8221; to get behind.
The filing adds that authorities found a note, which has been previously reported on, in Mangione&#8217;s possession during his arrest at a McDonald&#8217;s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, addressed to federal investigators.
&#8220;To the Feds, I&#8217;ll keep this short because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly I wasn&#8217;t working with anyone,&#8221; Mangione wrote, describing his attack as &#8220;fairly trivial,&#8221; involving &#8220;some elementary social engineering, basic [computer aided design], and a lot of patience.&#8221;
The note continued with an unapologetic justification: &#8220;I do apologize for any strife or trauma, but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,&#8221; then launching into a sanctimonious rant about the state of health care in America.
“If ever there were an open and shut case pointing to a defendant’s guilt, this case is that case. Simply put, one would be hard pressed to find a case with such overwhelming evidence of guilt as to the identity of the murderer and the premeditated nature of the assassination,” prosecutors wrote regarding the entries.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that even disregarding the mountains of physical evidence presented in Wednesday&#8217;s filing, the prosecution still would have enough to convict Mangione on the terrorism count.
“The shooting itself speaks volumes of the defendant’s intent. Defendant chose to shoot the CEO of the United States’ largest health insurance company in front of the hotel where the company was about to conduct its annual investor conference,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote in the filing.
Mangione, 27, faces both state and federal murder and terrorism charges in connection with the shooting death of Thompson in Midtown Manhattan on December 4, leading to a five-day manhunt that ended with Mangione’s arrest in Pennsylvania. Mangione has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/luigi-mangione-pleads-not-guilty-as-doj-seeks-death-penalty?author=Nathan+Gay&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Luigi+Mangione+Pleads+Not+Guilty+As+DOJ+Seeks+Death+Penalty">pleaded</a> not guilty on all charges.
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According to authorities, Mangione <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-directs-prosecutors-seek-death-penalty-luigi-mangione">murdered</a> Thompson, a father of two young children, in a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination” as an act of “political violence.”
On the federal level, Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/us/luigi-mangione-federal-charges/index.html">announced</a> in late May that the DOJ intends to pursue the death penalty in the Mangione case.
Mangione&#8217;s attorneys have moved to exclude his writings from the court record, arguing their client wasn&#8217;t afforded his constitutional rights when arrested.
Prosecutors responded, agreeing to pre-trial hearings on the admissibility of the evidence, including the red spiral notebook and statements made to police officers.
Mangione is scheduled to appear in court for his state charges on June 26.

Luigi Mangione

Luigi Mangione’s Chilling Diaries Revealed In Court: ‘Parasites Simply Had It Coming’

Crime

Death Penalty

Department of Justice

New York

News

U.S.

UnitedHealthcare

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to reject President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump’s</a> request to pause his sentencing hearing related to his New York hush-money case.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the court’s three liberal justices to reject Trump’s request, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-appeal-12f9e883b71d8c37178b0ea32193e8c4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>. The majority did not rule on the merits of Trump’s argument, but said that the question could be decided through an appeal.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas voted to delay the sentencing hearing.
Trump responded to the ruling on Thursday evening during a dinner with Republican governors at his Florida resort: “I respect the court’s opinion — I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out.”
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said the Supreme Court’s ruling was predictable and, despite what the decision would suggest, may ultimately help Trump.
“There is an overriding preference among appellate judges for the finalizing of cases with sentencing so that the entire case can be reviewed,” Turley <a href="https://x.com/JonathanTurley/status/1877516109567463730" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X explaining the decision.
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“[I]n handing down this sentence, Judge Merchan will give Trump an even greater mandate. The New York case is the rawest form of lawfare and Alvin Bragg is its happiest warrior,” Turley said.
“The whole case can now work its way eventually back to the United States Supreme Court,” he added, suggesting that the court may then overturn the entire case.
Trump’s legal team <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-appeals-to-scotus-to-pause-sentencing-in-hush-money-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> a brief with the court on Wednesday asking the court to delay the Friday sentencing hearing, arguing that the sentencing would violate Trump’s presidential immunity.
“[T]he doctrine of sitting-President immunity shields [Trump] from criminal process during the brief but crucial period of Presidential transition, while he engages in the extraordinarily demanding task of preparing to assume the Executive power of the United States,” the filing said.
Trump’s legal team also argued that his conviction should be dismissed as some of the evidence used to convict him on 34 felony charges should not have been allowed in the court, as it constituted official acts he took as president.
“These included, without limitation, statements issued through his official Presidential Twitter account to the American people in 2018, statements to the press in official Presidential media appearances, documentary evidence reflecting official Presidential actions, and testimony of former White House employees regarding official actions taken by President Trump during his first term as President,” the filing said.

SCOTUS Rejects Trump’s Request To Pause Sentencing In Hush-Money Case

Courts

Supreme Court

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to pause his sentencing in the New York hush money case.
Trump’s sentencing, scheduled for Friday morning, violates the president-elect’s presidential immunity as outlined in a Supreme Court decision in July, according to Trump’s legal team. Allowing the sentencing to move forward would be a “grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
“President Trump’s legal team filed an emergency petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to correct the unjust actions by New York courts and stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung <a href="https://x.com/mrddmia/status/1876992687141745145?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Constitution, and established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.”
The legal <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24A666/336760/20250107212856360_2025-01-07%20-%20Trump%20v.%20New%20York%20-%20Supreme%20Court%20Stay%20Application.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filing</a> states that the hush money case and Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts is on poor legal footing. Part of the evidence used at trial to secure the conviction was based on official acts of the president and should have been shielded from the court.
“These included, without limitation, statements issued through his official Presidential Twitter account to the American people in 2018, statements to the press in official Presidential media appearances, documentary evidence reflecting official Presidential actions, and testimony of former White House employees regarding official actions taken by President Trump during his first term as President,” the filing states.
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The legal team also argued that legal immunity for sitting presidents covers the transition period between the election and when a president assumes office.
“[T]he doctrine of sitting-President immunity shields [Trump] from criminal process during the brief but crucial period of Presidential transition, while he engages in the extraordinarily demanding task of preparing to assume the Executive power of the United States,” the filing says.d
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ordered Bragg’s office to respond to the Trump team’s filing by 10 a.m. Thursday.
The Trump team made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court a day after a New York appeals court rejected a similar petition.
In a legal filing to the appeals court, Bragg’s office <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-lawyers-ask-new-york-appeals-court-halt-friday-hush-money-sente-rcna186586" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> that Trump as president-elect “has no viable claim of presidential immunity from ordinary criminal process.” Prosecutors said that Trump “is not yet engaged in any official presidential functions that would be disrupted by the sentencing.”

Trump Appeals To SCOTUS To Pause Sentencing In Hush Money Case

Executive

Politics

SCOTUS

Prosecutors are throwing the book at suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione as a grand jury indicted him this week on terrorism charges.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that the killing of Brian Thompson on December 4 &#8220;was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.&#8221; Bragg announced on Tuesday that Mangione is being charged with “murder in the first degree as a killing in furtherance of terrorism” along with “two counts of murder in the second degree,” one of which accuses Mangione of killing Thompson in an &#8220;act of terrorism.&#8221;
A first-degree murder charge in New York is rare as it requires the victim to be a witness, judge, or police officer, or for the killing to be a murder-for-hire or a murder with intent to commit terrorism. The maximum sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison without parole.
“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” Bragg said. “It occurred at one of the most bustling parts of our city, threatening the safety of local residents and tourists alike.”
Upon his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, police allegedly found a notebook on Mangione that includes a passage where the writer mentions taking out “the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.” Mangione also allegedly had a manifesto on him that accused UnitedHealthcare of prioritizing profit over patients. Law enforcement believes Mangione was motivated by anger with the U.S. healthcare system. Bragg <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/17/act-of-terrorism-murder-charge-luigi-mangione/77054556007/">claims</a> that Mangione &#8220;intended to evoke terror&#8221; with the killing.
Prosecutors allege that Mangione &#8220;intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population&#8221; and to &#8220;affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/nyregion/mangione-first-degree-murder-terrorism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>. How the murder of Thompson &#8220;affect[s] the conduct of a unit of government&#8221; wasn&#8217;t immediately clear as Thompson worked for a private healthcare company. The Daily Wire reached out to the Manhattan District Attorney&#8217;s Office for clarification on the charges.
A law passed in New York shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, allows prosecutors to tack on terrorism charges to certain crimes if they&#8217;re “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/unitedhealthcare-ceo-killing-luigi-mangione-fccc9e875e976b9901a122bc15669425" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>. The FBI uses the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/17/act-of-terrorism-murder-charge-luigi-mangione/77054556007/">same</a> definition for domestic terrorism. The New York law was first used by prosecutors in 2002 on a Bronx gang member who killed a young girl and paralyzed a rival gang member in a hail of gunfire outside a christening party. A decade later, New York&#8217;s highest court ruled that the gang member was not a terrorist, and he was retried and convicted on other charges.
Some legal experts expressed skepticism over the prosecution&#8217;s chances to convict Mangione on the terrorism charges. Anna Cominsky, director of the criminal defense clinic at New York Law School, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/nyregion/mangione-first-degree-murder-terrorism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Times that accusing Mangione of committing terrorism seems abnormal in this case because “this isn’t traditionally how we think of terrorism.”
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“What they’re saying is because it was done in the location that it was done in, because of the manner in which it was done, that the aim was to terrorize, that it was to scare people. Not just to kill this individual,” Cominsky said.
Former federal prosecutor Jessica Roth <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/18/us/luigi-mangione-murder-indictment-new-york/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN&#8217;s Anderson Cooper that &#8220;by including&#8221; the terrorism charges, &#8220;the district attorney is setting up the conditions for a plea to a lesser charge where he has the possibility of, at some point, getting out of prison.&#8221;
“If there isn’t a plea, it’s also setting up the condition for a jury compromise on that lesser charge,&#8221; Roth added.

Here’s Why Luigi Mangione Was Charged With Terrorism

Here's Why Luigi Mangione Was Charged With Terrorism 

assassination

Brian Thompson

New York City

Terrorism

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/luigi-mangione" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Luigi Mangione</a>, the man suspected of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month, was charged with first- and second-degree murder by a grand jury in New York, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Tuesday.
Bragg said at a press conference that Mangione stands charged with one count of &#8220;murder in the first degree as a killing in furtherance of terrorism&#8221; and &#8220;two counts of murder in the second degree,&#8221; one of which accuses Mangione of killing Thompson in an act of terrorism. Mangione was also hit with multiple weapons charges and a charge of criminal possession of a forged instrument. The first-degree murder charge has a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.
Mangione — who was arrested at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald&#8217;s on December 9 — has been fighting his extradition to New York. The suspected assassin was nabbed by police after the NYPD circulated a photo of him smiling at a Manhattan hostel before Thompson was gunned down on the street on December 4. Surveillance video showed a masked man shooting Thompson from behind while the CEO was on his way the the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan for his company&#8217;s Investor&#8217;s Conference.
&#8220;This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,&#8221; Bragg said. &#8220;It occurred at one of the most bustling parts of our city, threatening the safety of local residents and tourists alike.&#8221;
According to the district attorney, Mangione arrived in New York City on a bus on November 24 with the goal &#8220;to murder Brian Thompson.&#8221; Mangione checked into the Manhattan hostel using a fake New Jersey ID under the name Mark Rosario. Mangione is accused of standing outside the Hilton hotel in wait for Thompson. After the shooting, Mangione allegedly fled on a bike and got on a bus leaving the city.
When he was arrested in Pennsylvania — around 275 miles from NYC — police said they found a 9mm handgun, a suppressor, two ammunition magazines, and the same fake New Jersey ID on him. Authorities said the gun found on Mangione was homemade and likely built using a 3D printer.
Mangione&#8217;s mother filed a missing persons report with San Francisco police just weeks before Thompson was killed in New York City, the San Francisco Standard <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/12/09/luigi-mangione-unitedhealthcare-sfpd-missing-person-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Mangione worked in San Francisco for a short time before moving to Honolulu, Hawaii.
According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, police were already closing in on Mangione before he was arrested in Pennsylvania. Kenny said that when Mangione&#8217;s mother was questioned by authorities on December 7, shortly before her son&#8217;s arrest, she &#8220;didn&#8217;t indicate that it was her son in the photograph,&#8221; but told detectives that &#8220;it might be something that she could see [Mangione] doing.&#8221;
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Mangione&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/suspected-unitedhealthcare-ceo-assassin-fights-extradition-to-new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extradition</a> could take weeks to complete if he continues to fight it. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will have to submit a “governor’s warrant” to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, requesting the extradition.
At the press conference, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch blasted those who have made a hero out of Mangione and have celebrated the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.
&#8220;Let me say this plainly, there is no heroism in what Mangione did. This was a senseless act of violence. It was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk,&#8221; Tisch said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t celebrate murders and we don&#8217;t lionize the killing of anyone. And any attempt to rationalize this is vile, wreckless, and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice.&#8221;
Both Tisch and Bragg also vowed to crack down on so-called ghost guns, a term often used by the Left to describe firearms that are untraceable by state and federal authorities.
A notebook was also allegedly found on Mangione that includes a passage where the writer mentions taking out “the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.”
“It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents,” Mangione allegedly wrote in the notebook.

Luigi Mangione Indicted For Murder In New York, Faces Terrorism Charges

Murder

President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing hearing has been indefinitely &#8220;adjourned&#8221; as the court evaluates how to handle the case after Trump’s reelection to the White House.
A New York court said in a note posted to the case docket on Tuesday that the November 26 hearing had been adjourned without further explanation, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-19/trump-s-nov-26-hush-money-sentencing-adjourned-court-says">Bloomberg</a>. The note came on the same day as a deadline for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to submit an argument on how the election and a Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity should impact the case.
The judge in the case, Justice Juan Merchan, has not signaled where he thinks the trial should go. Some of the options are dismissal of the case, or postponing sentencing for four years until Trump’s second term in the White House is complete, according to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ny-judge-adjourns-trump-hearing-without-explanation-delaying-sentencing">Fox News</a>.
Trump’s legal team has argued that the case against the president-elect should be dismissed. Bragg’s team of prosecutors has said that some action should be taken after Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May.
“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances and that the arguments raised by defense counsel in correspondence to the People on Friday require careful consideration to ensure that any further steps in this proceeding appropriately balance the competing interests of (1) a jury verdict of guilt following trial that has the presumption of regularity; and (2) the Office of the President,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-delays-decision-on-trumps-immunity-in-hush-money-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> to Merchan last week.
A New York jury convicted Trump on 34 felony counts in May related to hush money paid to Stephanie Clifford, a porn actress who goes by the name Stormy Daniels. Trump faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
Throughout the trial, Trump complained of unfair treatment and bias by Merchan, whose daughter is a Democratic operative. Merchan issued gag orders against Trump over his complaints and accusations against the judge and others.
In May, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution over official acts or acts that are part of a president’s “core constitutional powers.” Outside of that scope, however, presidential immunity may not apply.
“The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the president does is official. The president is not above the law,” Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision. “But Congress may not criminalize the president’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution.”

Trump Sentencing In Hush Money Case Indefinitely ‘Adjourned’

Trump Sentencing In Hush Money Case Postponed After Election Win

Juan Merchan

A judge will decide the future of President-elect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>’s New York criminal convictions on Tuesday as he considers throwing out the entire case.
Trump’s legal team <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-judge-merchan-decide-whether-dismiss-trump-guilty-verdict-bragg-case-after-election-win" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has argued</a> that Judge Juan Merchan should dismiss the case and his 34 convictions on falsifying business records charges because of presidential immunity doctrine. The president-elect’s legal team has said that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg rushed the case for political reasons and did not consider presidential immunity when he brought the case to trial. 
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sentencing-delayed-until-after-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">case stems from</a> Trump being accused of improperly masking reimbursements to repay his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence on an alleged extramarital affair by classifying them as legal expenses. A Manhattan jury convicted Trump in May on the charges. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said that Bragg was engaging in politically motivated “election interference.”
The appeal from Trump’s legal team to dismiss the case refers to the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-rules-trump-has-immunity-for-official-acts-likely-delays-trial-past-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6-3 decision</a> in Trump v. United States, which said presidents cannot be prosecuted for exercising core constitutional powers and are entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for official acts. 
Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers, said that Bragg used testimony and evidence that should have been inadmissible during the trial. He <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-judge-merchan-decide-whether-dismiss-trump-guilty-verdict-bragg-case-after-election-win" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Bragg &#8220;violated the Presidential immunity doctrine by using similar official-acts evidence in the grand jury proceedings that gave rise to the politically motivated charges in this case.&#8221; 
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
&#8220;The Presidential immunity doctrine recognized in Trump pertains to all ‘criminal proceedings,’ including grand jury proceedings when a prosecutor ‘seeks to charge’ a former President using evidence of official acts,” Blanche wrote in a filing earlier this year.
If Merchan does not throw out the case or set a new trial, Trump is expected to be sentenced on November 26. The judge said in September that he moved sentencing until after the election to “dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party and or any candidate for any office.”
Trump has also attempted to move the case away from Merchan to a federal court but has so far been rebuffed.
In a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/10/donald-trump-new-york-hush-money-sentencing/76108866007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> to USA Today on the case, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that Trump had been given &#8220;an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again.&#8221;
&#8220;It is now abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system, so we can, as President Trump said in his historic victory speech, unify our country and work together for the betterment of our nation,&#8221; Cheung said.

Celebrity Sightings In New York City – April 04, 2023

Judge To Determine What Happens Next With Trump’s New York Criminal Case

Manhattan

U.S. Politics

Early in the afternoon of May 1st of 2023, several passengers on board a New York City subway car thought their lives were about to end. A 30-year-old career criminal named Jordan Neely — who had been arrested more than 40 times, including for punching a 67-year-old woman on the subway and breaking her nose — had just boarded the train. And as soon as the doors closed, he began threatening the passengers. Multiple eyewitnesses said that Neely threw his jacket across the train, adopted a fighting stance, and yelled, &#8220;Someone is going to die today.&#8221; Neely added that he would happily &#8220;kill anyone&#8221; and &#8220;take a bullet,&#8221; saying he was &#8220;ready to go to Rikers&#8221; and &#8220;ready to do life&#8221; because he wanted to &#8220;hurt people.&#8221;
One passenger on the train later told a New York grand jury that Neely&#8217;s behavior was &#8220;sickening&#8221; and &#8220;satanic.&#8221; Another passenger testified that what he experienced was &#8220;absolutely traumatizing,&#8221; above and beyond anything he had previously experienced in more than six years riding the subway. He recounted the moment when Neely approached him, saying he thought he was, &#8220;going to die.&#8221; A mother and her son hid behind a stroller as Neely began lunging towards them, coming within a half a foot of some passengers. A student commuting to high school said she prayed that the doors would open so that she could escape. One retiree who rode the subway every day for more than 30 years told the Grand Jury: &#8220;I have been riding the subway for many years. I have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that.&#8221;
What happened next is documented on video. This is a report from shortly after the incident. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Video shows NYC subway confrontation end with fatal chokehold" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FUGFJ7CE-jY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As you heard, the witnesses didn&#8217;t think Jordan Neely was in serious danger. He was fighting back the whole time. Instead, the people on the train justifiably thought their lives were at risk. And so they joined in to help 25-year-old Daniel Penny, a former Marine, subdue the threat.
Police who responded didn&#8217;t arrest Penny. That didn&#8217;t happen until more than 10 days later, after politicians like AOC and Julie Salazar charged that Neely&#8217;s death was a public lynching. 
Pretty much the only prominent politician in New York who didn&#8217;t go to that extreme was the mayor, Eric Adams. He <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/10/eric-adams-neely-death-forced-hospitalizations-00096231" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Neely&#8217;s death made him realize that it&#8217;s really important to institutionalize a lot of mentally ill vagrants, which is true. And now they&#8217;ve charged Eric Adams with a bunch of crimes, because he kept going off script. Just in case you were wondering how New York works.
Meanwhile, Left-wing activists also began <a href="https://x.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1655311097686106113" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terrorizing</a> the subway system, saying they wouldn&#8217;t stop until the D.A., Alvin Bragg, brought charges against Penny.
So they kneel on the tracks. They prevent a bunch of people from getting to where they want to go. And yet, none of these BLM activists are going on trial this week. The mob always gets what it wants in New York. So instead, this week, jury selection began in the trial of Daniel Penny. Alvin Bragg has charged him with criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, which could put Penny in prison for up to 15 years. On Monday, BLM was outside the courthouse, and again they were chanting, &#8220;No justice, no peace.&#8221;
When I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1158-the-left-anoints-the-new-george-floyd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talked</a> about this case last year, I went into some detail about the media&#8217;s attempts to paper over Jordan Neely&#8217;s record. They kept calling him a &#8220;Michael Jackson impersonator,&#8221; as if that&#8217;s why the passengers had to subdue him. The implication is that he was moonwalking too much, or doing a really bad rendition of “Man in the Mirror.” I also discussed how this episode is being manufactured to create as much racial tension as possible. If Daniel Penny had been black, then no one would be talking about this case at all.
What I didn&#8217;t talk about, because we didn&#8217;t have all the details at the time, is what the inevitable prosecution of Daniel Penny was going to look like. And now that we have that information, it&#8217;s safe to say this is easily the most egregious criminal prosecution in a case of self-defense since the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. In fact, it’s significantly worse than the Rittenhouse trial, in my opinion. We all knew this would be a political show trial. What we didn&#8217;t know is how flagrant the show trial would be.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1469-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
I&#8217;ll start with the prosecution&#8217;s theory of the case. This is from the <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/10/20/us-news/daniel-penny-trial-begins-jurors-to-be-asked-what-would-you-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post</a>: 
<blockquote>Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has argued that Penny knew during the encounter that he might kill Neely, even if that was not his intention. They’ve cited testimony from a Marine trainer, who told the grand jury that Marines are taught that chokeholds — which are meant to be a non-lethal restraint — can sometimes be fatal.</blockquote>
Before we get into the the testimony they&#8217;re talking about, let&#8217;s be very clear about what&#8217;s happening here. The prosecution is effectively conceding that, when Daniel Penny restrained Jordan Neely, he wasn&#8217;t trying to kill him. So they&#8217;ve downgraded this to an accidental lynching. The prosecution is saying Daniel Penny should spend 15 years in prison because he supposedly disregarded a risk that chokeholds can sometimes be fatal. And to make that argument, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Penny and his fellow passengers weren&#8217;t experiencing a reasonable fear for their lives during this incident. That&#8217;s the needle they plan to thread here.
To put this in context, the typical manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide case in New York looks nothing like this. The textbook <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/2013/158.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">example</a> would be that someone gets intoxicated, drives well over the speed limit, crosses the double-yellow line and kills someone. That&#8217;s the kind of clearly reckless behavior the law normally applies to.
But in this case, Alvin Bragg wants to imprison Daniel Penny because, in direct response to a dangerous vagrant making threats of violence, he performed a defensive maneuver that could, potentially, be lethal.
Of course, literally any kind of physical altercation could be lethal. A punch or a shove could be lethal. If everyone acknowledges that Penny wasn&#8217;t trying to kill Neely, and was just trying to restrain him so that he didn&#8217;t hurt any of the passengers, then what exactly are we doing here? What are they saying about this particular chokehold that makes it so reckless, and so inappropriate, that it&#8217;s criminal?
I went and pulled up some of the testimony from the government&#8217;s expert witness on chokeholds. It&#8217;s contained in the defense&#8217;s motion to dismiss the case, which a judge rejected. The expert&#8217;s name is Sergeant Caballer. Again, this is the government&#8217;s witness, not the defense witness. And this is what he told the grand jury in this case. The sergeant <a href="https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/daniel-penny-motion-to-dismiss.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> that, in the Marines, the chokehold technique that Penny learned is a non-lethal maneuver intended to subdue an aggressor. The sergeant did say a chokehold can be fatal when it&#8217;s applied &#8220;to the full extent.&#8221; But as the defense&#8217;s motion outlines, the expert clarified that Penny didn&#8217;t apply the chokehold to the &#8220;full extent.&#8221;
According to the sergeant, if you want to kill someone in a chokehold, then your best bet is to place more pressure on the arteries by pushing the head forward. You&#8217;d also want to apply pressure to the carotid arteries using a specific placement of the arm and elbow. But Penny didn&#8217;t do either of those things. The sergeant testified that Penny&#8217;s arm did not allow him to, &#8220;apply a lot of pressure to those carotid arteries.&#8221; Instead, Penny placed pressure primarily on the, &#8220;upper part of the jaw.&#8221; Here&#8217;s the key: &#8220;All things considered of where his hand placement is and arm placement, it looks as though he&#8217;s just holding him.&#8221;
Additionally, several eyewitnesses testified that they never heard Neely &#8220;gasping, gagging, or saying he could not breathe.&#8221;
In other words, Daniel Penny performed a maneuver that he was trained to perform as a non-lethal way of subduing threats. It took him several minutes longer than he probably thought it would, because Jordan Neely was fighting back and because he had a coat on. But that&#8217;s what happened here. 
By the way, this is the kind of maneuver that&#8217;s so common in the military that you can pull up hundreds of videos of chokehold training. Here&#8217;s one of them:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="choke out or tap out? #shorts" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SKi07fUd3tY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
So they&#8217;re making light of the whole thing. They probably shouldn&#8217;t, but that gives you some idea how widely taught the technique is. The expected result is the person who&#8217;s subdued will quickly recover. 
That obviously didn&#8217;t happen in this case. And from the testimony of the medical examiner so far, we don&#8217;t know exactly why. The medical examiner indicated that asphyxiation was the cause of death. But from the defense&#8217;s motion, we don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s actually supported by the evidence. Causation is going to be a big issue in this trial — as in, did Daniel Penny actually cause the death of Jordan Neely. We don&#8217;t know if Jordan Neely died because of pressure that was applied to the carotid artery, or to the windpipe, or for some other reason.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a></h3>
What we do know is that, when someone has to be forcibly restrained by several people for their own protection, there&#8217;s a risk something can go wrong. People die suddenly when they get hit with a Taser. Sometimes people die suddenly when they go for a run. Stress is inherently dangerous, and physical altercations only compound the risk of someone dying. It happens all the time. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s a bad idea to pick fights with people on the train and threaten to kill them. Even when they&#8217;re trying to subdue you using a non-violent technique, things can go wrong. That&#8217;s a risk the aggressor assumes — not his victims.
What this testimony from the government&#8217;s witness underscores, once again, is that this case never should have been brought. No matter what happens — even if Daniel Penny is acquitted — it&#8217;s still a grotesque miscarriage of justice. A healthy society would have given Penny an award and thanked him for his service to the community. Instead, the same prosecutors who tried to jail the leading presidential candidate are now trying to imprison a man who defended a subway car full of passengers from a raving lunatic. 
And this isn&#8217;t just happening in New York. In Chicago, the police board just recommended firing a police officer because he shot someone who drew a gun on him. That&#8217;s not an exaggeration. They want to fire a police officer because he defended himself against an armed man, on camera. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Chicago, IL🚔
•Reginald Clay pulled a gun on a cop during a foot chase. •The Police Board recommended termination. •The Police Superintendent disagreed but was overruled. 
•Alleged Policy Violations. 1. Foot chase policy. 2. De-escalation policy.
(1) <a href="https://t.co/ONcPZIMkAW">pic.twitter.com/ONcPZIMkAW</a>
&mdash; police.law.news (@policelawnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/policelawnews/status/1847673162051260599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is what the destruction of Americans&#8217; constitutional rights looks like. For the millions of people living in places like Chicago and New York, it&#8217;s happening in real-time. The only choice they&#8217;re offered is to submit to the mob, or get crushed by it. This is what Soros-backed prosecutors like Alvin Bragg are doing all over the country. They&#8217;re implementing mob rule. That&#8217;s been their goal for several years now. And with the trial of Daniel Penny, we&#8217;re about to see just how powerful the mob has become.

Jury Selection Begins In Daniel Penny Trial For Death Of Jordan Neely

How The Daniel Penny Trial Proves Self-Defense Is Under Attack In Our Country

Anti-Racism

Black Lives Matter

Daniel Penny

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Subway

Woke Culture

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> said on Friday that the sentencing in his hush-money case is being moved to after the election because he &#8220;did nothing wrong.&#8221;
Judge Juan Merchan postponed the sentencing in the Manhattan case on Friday for the second time, pushing the date back from September 18 to November 26, exactly three weeks after the presidential election. In a Truth Social post, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113092041539493827" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> that Merchan delayed the sentencing &#8220;because everyone realizes that there was NO CASE, I DID NOTHING WRONG!&#8221;
&#8220;It is a political attack against me by Comrade Kamala Harris and other Radical Left Opponents for purposes of Election Interference, and is a case that should have never been brought,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Nothing like this has ever happened in the United States of America – IT IS STRICTLY THIRD WORLD, BANANA REPUBLIC &#8216;STUFF.'&#8221;
Trump was convicted in late May on all 34 counts of falsifying business records brought against him after he was accused of covering up hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, which date back to the 2016 election campaign.
Merchan said that he was delaying the sentencing “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.” Trump and his allies have alleged that the hush-money case brought against him by Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a ploy to stop the Republican nominee from winning another term in the White House.
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Merchan shot back at those allegations with his order on Friday, arguing, “The Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution,” adding that his decision “should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party and or any candidate for any office.”
In his Truth Social post, Trump added that the American public and &#8220;every legal scholar&#8221; &#8220;understands&#8221; that the Manhattan case is &#8220;election interference.&#8221; He argued that the case should ultimately be &#8220;terminated.&#8221;
Legal experts have said that the Supreme Court could ultimately step in. Trump&#8217;s attempt to get the case moved to a federal court before the sentencing was shot down by U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, writing that the federal court &#8220;does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial.&#8221;

‘Everyone Realizes That There Was No Case’: Trump Responds After Judge Delays Sentencing

'Everyone Realizes That There Was No Case': Trump Responds After Judge Delays Sentencing

2024 Election

The legal team for former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> requested that a federal court take control of his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York</a> criminal case ahead of potential sentencing next month for his conviction on falsifying business records.  
Trump’s legal team <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.598311/gov.uscourts.nysd.598311.46.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed a motion</a> in the Southern District of New York on Thursday to remove the case from Judge Juan Merchan as Trump seeks dismissal on presidential immunity grounds. The former president <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/verdict-trump-found-guilty-on-all-charges-in-hush-money-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was convicted</a> in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump—the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” the filing said. “Post-trial removal is necessary under these circumstances to afford President Trump an unbiased forum, free from local hostilities, where he can seek redress for these Constitutional violations.”
The filing asks for the court to remove the case from the state level and confirm that Trump cannot be sentenced by Merchan while litigation over the removal motion proceeds. Sentencing is currently scheduled for September 18. 
Trump’s legal team also argued that the restrictions Merchan has placed on him regarding speaking about the case violate his First Amendment rights. 
“The continued operation of this unlawful prior restraint is causing irreparable First Amendment harm to President Trump and the American people, and it operates as a wholly inappropriate muzzle on the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election while he is on the campaign trail and during any debate against Vice President Harris.”
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Trump previously moved to dismiss the case based on the Supreme Court’s July ruling that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. Merchan has indicated he will rule on the motion to dismiss on September 16, two days before the sentencing is scheduled.
Upon sentencing, Trump <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-convicted-prison-sentence-new-york-criminal-trial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could</a> face four years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the 34 convictions. The filing highlighted Merchan’s ties to the Democratic party, including donations made to Joe Biden&#8217;s campaign and his daughter’s previous work for Kamala Harris&#8217;s 2020 presidential campaign. 
The House Judiciary Committee <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-08-28%20JDJ%20to%20Nellis%20re%20Authentic%20Campaigns%20subpoena.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subpoenaed</a> Authentic Campaigns this week, the leftist organization that employs Merchan’s daughter.

New York Grand Jury Votes To Indict Former President Trump

Trump Looks To Move New York Criminal Case To Federal Court Ahead Of Sentencing

On Thursday, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York</a> appellate court rejected <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s appeal of a gag order as part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg&#8217;s hush-money case in which the former president has been convicted and faces sentencing later this year.
A panel of the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/new-york-court-denies-trump-gag-order-appeal-hush-money-case-rcna164702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mid-level</a> state Appellate Division <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25023087/ny-appeals-ruling-on-trump-gag-order.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disagreed</a> with Trump&#8217;s contention that the conclusion of the trial resulted in a &#8220;change in circumstances&#8221; warranting an end to the entire gag order, <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25023087/ny-appeals-ruling-on-trump-gag-order.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said a decision</a>.
Judge Juan Merchan did remove limits on what Trump could say about trial witnesses and the jury after the verdict in late May, but kept restraints on comments about court staff, the DA&#8217;s staff, and family members of court staff and prosecutors.
Bragg&#8217;s team made submissions that demonstrated &#8220;threats received by District Attorney staff after the jury verdict continued to pose a significant and imminent threat,&#8221; the decision on Thursday noted.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-ny-court-rejects-trump-gag-order-appeal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Despite</a> multiple <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/appeals-court-denies-trumps-gag-order-challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">setbacks</a>, a spokesperson for Trump&#8217;s 2024 campaign said the former president &#8220;continues to forcefully challenge&#8221; the &#8220;decision to leave in place portions of the unconstitutional Gag Order,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/new-york-court-denies-trump-gag-order-appeal-hush-money-case-rcna164702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a>.
In the lead-up to the verdict, Trump faced thousands of dollars in fines and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/judge-finds-trump-violated-gag-order-threatens-jail-rcna150560" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a threat of jail time</a> for speaking out in violation of the gag order that he claimed had infringed upon his First Amendment rights.
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — MATT WALSH&#8217;S EXPOSÉ ON DEI</a>
A jury <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/verdict-trump-found-guilty-on-all-charges-in-hush-money-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> Trump of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up a tryst with adult film star Stormy Daniels for a &#8220;catch-and-kill&#8221; scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump denied the affair and had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Merchan initially picked a July 11 date for sentencing, but <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-approves-delay-for-trump-sentencing-after-supreme-court-immunity-ruling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved a delay</a> until at least mid-September while he considers whether an immunity ruling by the Supreme Court could have a bearing on the case. A decision is reportedly expected on September 6.
Another judge implemented a gag order against Trump in special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election case in Washington, D.C. Federal prosecutors also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-slaps-down-jack-smiths-request-for-gag-order-in-trump-docs-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unsuccessfully</a> sought a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/14/politics/trump-gag-order-classified-documents-florida/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gag order</a> in a Florida-based classified documents case, which has since been dismissed.
Trump has been trying to fend off a fourth prosecution in Georgia related to the 2020 election. It appears unlikely that any of the criminal cases — other than the one in New York — will reach the trial stage before the November election.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump

NY Appeals Court Rejects Trump Gag Order Appeal

Judge

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