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;

Donald Trump

‘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

Alvin Bragg

Courts

Juan Merchan

Manhattan

New York

U.S.

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

Politics

Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who was Alvin Bragg&#8217;s predecessor, said over the weekend that he does not believe that the court will sentence former President Donald Trump to jail after he was convicted on 34 felony counts last week.
Vance made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News&#8217; &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; while talking about what potential sentence could be imposed on Trump if his conviction is not overturned during appeals.
&#8220;These are the lowest-level, nonviolent felonies,&#8221; said guest host Peter Alexander. &#8220;They are punishable by a fine, probation, or up to four years in prison. Donald Trump turned 78 this month. He&#8217;s almost 80. He has no prior record. Here&#8217;s what he said this morning in an interview with Fox on the topic of possible jail time.&#8221;
Vance wouldn&#8217;t say whether or not he would recommend jail time because he didn&#8217;t think it was his place to comment.
&#8220;If you ask me do I think the court will impose jail in this case, as I said to you I think yesterday, I think not,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But ultimately, that&#8217;s Judge Merchan&#8217;s decision. The president has made this a little more complicated by having been found in contempt ten times during the court, but I think that with the proximity of the Republican convention four days after his sentencing and then if he is the candidate for the Republican Party the proximity of the election, I would be surprised that he would be sentenced to any imprisonment.&#8221;
&#8220;Now, that said, the court could adjourn sentencing until after the general election and then essentially decide then,&#8221; he continued.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
WATCH: In a new interview, Donald Trump said he’s “OK” with the prospect of house arrest or jail.
Former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. says he does not think the former president will get jail time, but &#8220;ultimately, that&#8217;s Judge Merchan&#8217;s decision.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/VbrYQSNPTz">pic.twitter.com/VbrYQSNPTz</a>
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1797334974456016972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2024</a></blockquote>

Trump Organization CFO Weisselberg Expected To Face Tax-Related Charges

Manhattan’s Former District Attorney On The Court Jailing Trump After Conviction: ‘I Think Not’

Media

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>’s legal team began giving final arguments to a Manhattan jury on Tuesday morning as the trial over alleged hush-money payments comes to a close. 
Trump’s defense argued that government prosecutors had presented no evidence of a criminal conspiracy, largely dependent on unreliable testimony from ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over alleged payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
During his testimony earlier in the trial, Cohen admitted that he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-lawyer-for-former-president-donald-trump-testifies-that-he-secretly-recorded-him-before-2016-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secretly recorded</a> Trump and that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he stole</a> tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization.
“You cannot convict President Trump,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-hush-money-trial-05-28-24/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on the words of Michael Cohen.”
Blanche added that the secret recording Cohen made did not actually show Trump discussing payments to McDougal, as the prosecution had argued. &#8220;You don&#8217;t know about the integrity of this file and this recording,&#8221; he told the jury. 
The lawyer also argued that Cohen did not tell Trump about a $130,000 payment to Daniels.
&#8220;There’s no way that you can find that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made without believing the words of Michael Cohen, period. And you cannot — you cannot — believe his words,&#8221; Blanche said. 
Blanche also argued that the government was trying to create a criminal conspiracy over documents filed in 2017 when the alleged conspiracy was supposed to aid his 2016 presidential campaign. 
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&#8220;The charges relate to documents in 2017, and the government wants you to believe that President Trump did these things with his records to conceal efforts to promote his successful candidacy in 2016, the year before,&#8221; Blanche said “Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate, a group of people working together to help somebody win. You have to find that this effort was done by unlawful means.&#8221;
Trump, who has said that the charges brought against him are an attempt to interfere with his 2024 presidential campaign, has been limited in speaking out about the trial due to a gag order placed on him by Judge Juan Merchan. 
In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112515382786192165" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on Monday, Trump called the gag order placed on him illegal and unconstitutional and said the whole prosecution was “the Biden White House at work.” 
The Biden campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-campaign-taps-robert-de-niro-to-rant-against-trump-outside-ny-trial-us-govt-will-perish?topStoryPosition=1">held</a> a press event with actor Robert De Niro outside the courthouse on Tuesday, during which the actor railed against the former president.

Former President Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Criminal Trial

Trump’s Defense Targets Michael Cohen In Closing Arguments For New York Hush-Money Trial

Michael Cohen

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be at the Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday morning to show his support for former President Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee continues his battle in court.
Johnson&#8217;s plan to join Trump at the courthouse was reported by <a href="https://twitter.com/Morning_Joe/status/1790350560966611144" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MSNBC</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1790351294831399334" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>, while the Republican speaker&#8217;s office confirmed to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/speaker-johnson-attend-trump-trial-manhattan-show-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> that he would be in attendance at the New York hush-money trial. Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is also expected to appear at the Manhattan courthouse alongside Trump on Tuesday, Fox News reported.
The speaker&#8217;s show of solidarity with Trump amidst his ongoing legal battles comes after the former president was joined at the Manhattan courthouse last week by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and on Monday by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH). Trump&#8217;s Republican allies have shown up to support the former president at the courthouse as Trump is under a gag order, which was placed on him by Judge Juan Merchan. The former president has already been fined 10 times for violating the gag order, and he was threatened with jail time if he violates the judge&#8217;s order again.
“The thing that the president is prevented from saying, which is a disgrace, is that every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative,” Vance <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-court-allies-jd-vance-2666cc432e5291e8fa7dd7fba9c2ffad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> outside the courthouse on Monday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Senator J.D. Vance: &quot;Michael Cohen is the prosecution&#39;s star witness. This guy is a convicted felon&#8230;every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative&#8230;What&#39;s going on inside that courtroom is a threat to American democracy&#8230;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/h3R1xzb5JM">pic.twitter.com/h3R1xzb5JM</a>
&mdash; MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1790054585056235592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump&#8217;s former lawyer Michael Cohen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-lawyer-for-former-president-donald-trump-testifies-that-he-secretly-recorded-him-before-2016-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> in the hush-money trial on Monday and said that he secretly recorded Trump before the 2016 election while he was working for him. Cohen said that the recorded conversation with Trump was about a supposed payment to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker over an alleged affair between Trump and model Karen McDougal.
Trump&#8217;s ex-lawyer is set to testify again on Tuesday. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple crimes — including lying to Congress — and spent time in prison.
Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has focused much of his case against Trump on Trump&#8217;s alleged relationships with McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with Daniels.
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Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has slammed the Manhattan trial as a political witch hunt.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson To Attend Hush-Money Trial In Show Of Support For Trump

Mike Johnson

A onetime lawyer for former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> testified on Monday that he secretly recorded Trump before the 2016 election while he was working for him.
Michael Cohen, who previously worked for Trump, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/michael-cohen-testifies-he-secretly-recorded-trump-lead-up-2016-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during his testimony at the former president’s criminal trial in New York that he used his iPhone to record a conversation between himself and Trump in September of 2016. Cohen claimed that the conversation was in regards to a supposed payment to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker over an alleged affair between Trump and model Karen McDougal. 
Cohen, whose credibility has been challenged by Trump and other Republicans, claimed he recorded the conversation to show that Trump was going to pay Pecker. 
&#8220;It was so I could show it to David Pecker and that way he would hear the conversation, that he would know that we’re going to be paid, Mr. Trump is going to be paying him back,&#8221; Cohen <a href="https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/michael-cohen-called-stand-trump-hush-money-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr. Trump.&#8221;
When asked if Trump was aware that he was being recorded, Cohen said he was not. In the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/listen-michael-cohen-recording-of-trump-talking-karen-mcdougal-payment-210816069576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recording</a>, Cohen says he will be setting up a company to transfer “all of that info regarding our friend David.” 
The recording came out as part of his testimony on Cohen’s claims about Trump’s alleged relationships with McDougal and Stormy Daniels. The supposed relationships with the women are the focal point of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg&#8217;s case against Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts of falsifying business records he faces and denied the relationships. 
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who attended the trial on Monday, ripped into Cohen over the recording revelation. Also in attendance were Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and Iowa AG Brenna Bird. 
&#8220;Michael Cohen is the prosecution&#8217;s star witness. 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. Does any reasonable, sensible person believe anything that Michael Cohen says?&#8221; Vance said.
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Cohen previously pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress, and ended up serving time in prison. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Senator J.D. Vance: &quot;Michael Cohen is the prosecution&#39;s star witness. This guy is a convicted felon&#8230;every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative&#8230;What&#39;s going on inside that courtroom is a threat to American democracy&#8230;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/h3R1xzb5JM">pic.twitter.com/h3R1xzb5JM</a>
&mdash; MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/MAGAIncWarRoom/status/1790054585056235592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
&#8220;The thing that the president is prevented from saying, which is a disgrace, is that every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a Democratic political operative,&#8221; Vance added. &#8220;What&#8217;s going on inside that courtroom is a threat to American democracy.&#8221;
House Republicans<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-turn-up-pressure-on-doj-to-address-criminal-referral-against-michael-cohen" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> have pushe</a>d the Justice Department to investigate Cohen after they sent a criminal referral saying that he likely committed perjury during his testimony before Congress in 2019.

Ex-Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Attends Court

Ex-Lawyer For Former President Donald Trump Testifies That He Secretly Recorded Him Before 2016 Election

2016 Election

Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan told the prosecution in former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s ongoing hush money trial that the jury didn&#8217;t need to hear quite so much from one of their star witnesses, former porn star Stormy Daniels.
The judge, after telling Daniels several times to slow down, finally told the prosecution that the level of detail she was giving — about things like what floor of the hotel a specific room was on or what was in Donald Trump&#8217;s toiletry bag – was excessive and unnecessary for the purposes of the trial at hand.
HuffPost&#8217;s Sara Boboltz shared a series of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-week-4-live-updates_n_663544dae4b0fc2b95297591/liveblog_663a4e09e4b0f72991a7cd4f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">courtroom updates</a> on Tuesday after Daniels took the stand, noting that the former adult film star&#8217;s demeanor on the stand had been &#8220;bubbly and light.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;He was very interested in a lot of the business aspects of [pornography], which I thought was very cool,&#8217; Daniels testified. Trump asked about things like residuals, unions and STD testing. (Tests are mandated every 14 days, Daniels said.) She volunteered the information about her test history, saying she had never &#8216;tested positive for anything,'&#8221; Boboltz wrote. &#8220;She has been asked multiple times to slow down in her testimony.&#8221;
Prior to the court&#8217;s lunch break, Daniels recounted in detail an alleged meeting with Trump in a hotel room — and when the jury was seated after the break was over, Merchan told the prosecution to dial back the unnecessary details.
&#8220;The judge told prosecutors that the level of detail Daniels had been going into was too much, saying we did not need to know about the floor of Trump’s hotel room, for example. He asked her to move it along,&#8221; Boboltz reported.
But Daniels did not appear to comply, as she went on to describe the contents of Trump&#8217;s toiletry bag (&#8220;She looked through Trump’s toiletry bag while she went to use the bathroom, finding Old Spice and Pert Plus items lying alongside &#8216;gold tweezers.'&#8221;) and then claimed that when she returned from the bathroom, he&#8217;d been dressed only in boxers.
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CNN&#8217;s Kasie Hunt noted that Daniels&#8217; tone could also be losing her points with the jury, saying that there had been a few times when it appeared she had been attempting to land a joke – and had gotten little to no reaction.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Stormy Daniels is apparently making scripted jokes in the courtroom to win over the jury and nobody is laughing
She&#39;s hurting the prosecution&#39;s case by showing the jury how much of an attention seeker she is. This is hilarious <a href="https://t.co/jQmWdIRU5m">pic.twitter.com/jQmWdIRU5m</a>
&mdash; johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) <a href="https://twitter.com/_johnnymaga/status/1787860788541014275?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump

Even Trump’s Manhattan Judge Wants Stormy Daniels To Stop Talking

Even Trump's Manhattan Judge Wants Stormy Daniels To Stop Talking

New York City

Stormy Daniels

trial

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> was fined $1,000 on Monday by the judge overseeing his New York criminal trial who said Trump had made comments on the case that violated the court&#8217;s gag order. 
Judge Juan Merchan, who announced the fine, said he might have to order Trump to be imprisoned if the gag order was violated again. Last week, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-hits-trump-with-fines-threatens-jail-time-over-gag-order?topStoryPosition=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was fined</a> $9,000 over social media posts that Merchan said violated the directive.
“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan wrote in a <a href="https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/DOcontempt_5-6-24FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">court order</a>. “Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration.”
Merchan said Trump violated the gag order when the former president criticized the jury&#8217;s composition, saying that it was mainly composed of Democrats. 
&#8220;You know [the judge is] rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody&#8217;s ever seen a thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast — 95% Democrats. The areas mostly all Democrat. You think of it as a — just a purely Democrat area. It&#8217;s a very unfair situation, that I can tell you,” Trump said in an <a href="https://americasvoice.news/video/Fl5de625uPnASso/?related=playlist">interview</a> with Real America&#8217;s Voice last month. 
“Defendant violated the Order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected. In doing so, Defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy of these proceedings, but again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones,” Merchan wrote in his order. 
Merchan did not fine Trump for several other comments on the case he made that prosecutors alleged violated the gag order.
The fine comes as Trump is on trial over alleged hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The case was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is charging Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records. 
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Merchan issued a gag order against Trump in March that barred him from commenting on potential witnesses, jurors, court staff, and attorneys. Later, after Trump pointed out Merchan’s daughter’s history working for elected Democrats, Merchan expanded the gag order to cover members of his family.
Speaking outside of the courtroom on Monday morning, Trump said that his constitutional rights had been taken away from him by the judge. 
“It’s a ridiculous case. I did nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing wrong,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112394542376341289" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “He’s taken away my constitutional right to speak. I was in Miami this weekend, and reporters are asking me questions, the same questions like you are asking me, and I have to say I have a gag order, I can’t speak about it. Never happened before ever.”

Former President Donald Trump’s Hush Money Trial Continues In New York

Judge Fines Trump Over Comments On Hush Money Case, Issues Threat Of Future ‘Incarceration’

Boston University law professor Jed Handelsman Shugerman delivered a blistering New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/opinion/bragg-trump-trial.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guest essay</a> trashing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg&#8217;s case against former President Donald Trump.
Shugerman titled the piece, &#8220;I thought the Bragg case against Trump was a legal embarrassment. Now I think it’s a historic mistake&#8221; — and then argued that in addition to the hush-money case against Trump being thin at best, the arguments being used to support it bordered on absurd.
The professor&#8217;s comments came on the heels of Monday&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-avenatti-claims-he-is-willing-to-testify-in-trump-hush-money-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opening statements</a> — which he cited as the reason he now believes prosecutors in the case have made a &#8220;historic mistake.&#8221;
&#8220;Their vague allegation about &#8216;a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election&#8217; has me more concerned than ever about their unprecedented use of state law and their persistent avoidance of specifying an election crime or a valid theory of fraud,&#8221; Shugerman wrote, noting that the prosecutors appeared to be attempting to use state laws to shoehorn in a case that belonged in federal jurisdiction.
He went on to explain that there was a way to do that — if prosecutors argued that Trump had been attempting to deceive state regulators. But they didn&#8217;t.
Instead, Bragg&#8217;s office argued that Trump had committed &#8220;election fraud&#8221; by attempting to &#8220;unlawfully influence&#8221; the 2016 presidential election.
The problems with that argument, Shugerman said, were simple: &#8220;It is legal for a candidate to pay for a nondisclosure agreement. Hush money is unseemly, but it is legal.&#8221;
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&#8220;None of the relevant state or federal statutes refer to filing violations as fraud. Calling it &#8216;election fraud&#8217; is a legal and strategic mistake, exaggerating the case and setting up the jury with high expectations that the prosecutors cannot meet,&#8221; Shugerman continued.
Shugerman concluded by saying that while he agreed both sides should get the chance to make their cases before the court, this particular case should be held up as an example of the system getting things wrong.
&#8220;Eight years after the alleged crime itself, it is reasonable to ask if this is more about Manhattan politics than New York law. This case should serve as a cautionary tale about broader prosecutorial abuses in America — and promote bipartisan reforms of our partisan prosecutorial system,&#8221; he wrote.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg

Law Professor Scorches Alvin Bragg In NYT Op-Ed, Calls Trial ‘Historic Mistake,’ ‘Legal Embarrassment’

Law Professor Scorches Alvin Bragg In NYT Op-Ed, Calls Trial 'Historic Mistake,' 'Legal Embarrassment'

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem defended former President Donald Trump over the weekend against the criminal trial that he is facing in New York City.
Noem made the remarks during a Sunday interview with Dana Bash on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; just ahead of this week&#8217;s opening statements in court for Trump’s trial where he is accused of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment.
&#8220;My hope is that all Americans can trust our judicial system, and that&#8217;s really what this case will prove out,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s a little ridiculous that they have waited years to bring these types of charges against Donald Trump. If they wanted to make these kinds of charges against him, they should have done it years ago, when this happened. To do it conveniently during a presidential election, when he&#8217;s campaigning to return to the White House, I think it proves that this is all politically motivated.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s the way that Democrats are fighting these days, it&#8217;s using the judicial system and activist judges to do so,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;My hope is that the people and the jury will do what is right and hear the evidence and see clearly that this is an unprecedented trial, but it&#8217;s unprecedented in how ridiculous it is.&#8221;
Noem also slammed the Manhattan District Attorney&#8217;s Office for using someone to testify against Trump who &#8220;has been proven to be a liar.&#8221;
&#8220;Michael Cohen has lied before Congress multiple times,&#8221; she said. &#8220;That&#8217;s their main witness. I would say that he certainly is not someone who can be trusted to do the right thing during this jury trial. They&#8217;re also using a woman&#8217;s testimony who signed a letter saying that this affair did not happen, that she has testified in the past that this never occurred.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Kristi Noem

Noem Blasts Trump Criminal Trial In NYC: ‘This Is All Politically Motivated’

The Left-wing conspiracy theorist who lit himself on fire outside a New York City courthouse on Friday where the criminal trial for former President Donald Trump was being held has died.
Max Azzarello, 37, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-who-set-himself-on-fire-outside-nyc-courthouse-was-conspiratorial-left-wing-activist">doused</a> himself with an accelerant around 1:35 p.m. EST right across the street from the courthouse in Collect Pond Park and reportedly “threw pamphlets into the air before” carrying out the act of self-immolation.
First responders quickly extinguished the flames and rushed him into an ambulance on a stretcher. Photos of Azzarello showed that he suffered extreme burns from head-to-toe. Hours after being transported to a hospital burn unit, he was pronounced dead.
Azzarello, who claimed he worked for Democrat politicians, was &#8220;curious&#8221; about social justice, a friend of his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/nyregion/max-azzarello-man-fire-trump.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The New York Times. Another friend described him as a &#8220;good friend and person and cared about the world.&#8221;
His friends said that he changed after his mother died in April 2022 from pulmonary disease.
After he flagged one of his writings for a friend in March 2023, the friend reached out to him directly and &#8220;tried to intervene,&#8221; the report said.
While living in Florida, he had run ins with law enforcement that appear connected to his mental health challenges, including &#8220;standing outside [a] hotel in just his underwear, ranting and cursing into a bullhorn,&#8221; the report said.
In a nearly 3,000-word incoherent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-who-set-himself-on-fire-outside-nyc-courthouse-was-conspiratorial-left-wing-activist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">manifesto</a>, Azzarello, who claimed that he was “an investigative researcher,” said that he carried out the act to “draw attention to an urgent and important discovery.”
“We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup,” he claimed. “These claims sound like fantastical conspiracy theory, but they are not. They are proof of conspiracy.”
He claimed that there was a vast “Ponzi scheme” underway involving cryptocurrency, billionaires, Stanford, Silicon Valley, Harvard, and Facebook. He claimed that bank failures “were all intentional” events “to move out stolen Ponzi money.”
He claimed that the “elites” funneled “trillions of dollars in stolen cash through the stock market[,] created the largest stock-market anomaly in history.” He claimed that the U.S. government unleashed the coronavirus pandemic to “explain the massive anomaly.”
He also claimed that the Ponzi schemes were “an economic doomsday device, intentionally made to shatter the world economy.”
He repeatedly listed examples in his manifesto, and some of his other deranged writings online, politicians from both political parties whom he believed were involved in the stories that he concocted in his mind.
He also believed that the television show “The Simpsons” “served the interests of organized crime” and were part of a conspiracy by the elites “to brainwash us.”
On his social media accounts, he also posted incoherent messages and sang songs about starting a revolution. In a photo, he was pictured wearing a Bernie Sanders t-shirt.
He also posted a <a href="https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1781409053370994748" target="_blank" rel="noopener">message</a> supporting Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, and repeated false  propaganda about Israel.

Jury Selection Continues In Former President Donald Trump’s New York Hush Money Trial

Man Who Torched Himself Outside Trump Trial Dies

The 12-person jury has been selected for former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial over accusations that he falsified business records related to payments made before the 2016 election by one of his lawyers. 
Lawyers for Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are still working on selecting alternates in case any of the primary jurors has an emergency. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts brought by Bragg’s office and denied that he authorized Michael Cohen to make payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. 
The jurors on the case <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/04/18/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial/what-we-know-about-the-jury-00153194" target="_blank" rel="noopener">include</a> an investment banker, a security engineer, a retired man from Lebanon, a speech therapist, a man who works at an eyewear company, a product developer, a physical therapist, a salesman, a corporate lawyer, an educator, a software engineer, and a civil litigator. There are seven men and five women on the jury.
One woman on the jury, whom Trump’s team was unable to remove, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-manhattan-stormy-daniels-michael-cohen-b514cb52bb31a82579cb827c40166173" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that she thought Trump was “very selfish and self-serving,” and that she didn’t “really appreciate that from any public servant.”
Five additional alternates need to be selected after one was selected on Thursday. The selection of the jurors has been difficult as many New Yorkers have strong opinions about the former president. On Thursday, one juror <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/juror-selected-for-trump-trial-dismissed-after-its-revealed-he-was-arrested-for-tearing-down-right-leaning-posters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was dismissed</a> after it was discovered that he had previously been arrested for tearing down Right-leaning political posters.
Another juror also left after saying that she did not think she would be able to be impartial. “I definitely have concerns. I don’t think I can be fair,” she said, adding that “outside influence” would “interfere” with her judgment.
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The trial is being overseen by Judge Juan Merchan, a donor to President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, whom Trump has repeatedly attempted to have removed from the case. 
Trump has said the case is election interference, saying on Thursday that he was supposed to be out campaigning instead of being stuck in court all day. “It really is a shame. This country is devolving into a third world country between having no borders, having no justice, we have no justice, and having a press that doesn’t want to cover the facts,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.

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