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President Donald Trump declared on Friday that his former &#8220;fixer&#8221; and the prosecution&#8217;s star witness, Michael Cohen, has completely recanted the testimony that drove the historic civil and criminal cases against the 47th President.
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Trump didn&#8217;t hold back in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117213723499789673">Truth Social post</a>, framing the reversal as a total collapse of the politically charged prosecutions spearheaded by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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&#8220;I am pleased to report that Michael Cohen, the Prosecution’s Star Witness and, in actuality, only Witness in the New York State Attorney General and Manhattan DA Witch Hunt Cases brought against me, has just fully RECANTED his testimony,&#8221; Trump posted. &#8220;He was &#8216;pressured&#8217; and &#8216;coerced&#8217; to say things that were not true.&#8221;
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The President went on to praise his once-loyal attorney for finding the &#8220;Wisdom and Courage to step forward and do the right thing,&#8221; calling the move an &#8220;Act of Bravery&#8221; and demanding an instant end to the legal warfare. &#8220;Now we are asking that any remnant of those Politically Weaponized Cases against me be immediately terminated and dismissed,&#8221; Trump added, accusing Bragg and James of breaking the law to block his presidential comeback.
<div id="attachment_1172903" style="width: 607px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1172903" class="wp-image-1172903 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Trump-TS-597x576.png" alt="" width="597" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Trump-TS-597x576.png 597w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Trump-TS-300x289.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Trump-TS-768x741.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Trump-TS.png 1180w" sizes=" (max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px" />Source: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social</div>
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The explosive declaration marks the latest twist in a long saga. Cohen, Trump&#8217;s former personal attorney, served prison time following 2018 guilty pleas for campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. He subsequently rebranded himself as Trump’s primary antagonist, taking center stage in three major legal crusades.
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In the 2019 Congressional hearings, Cohen slammed Trump before the House Oversight Committee, calling him a &#8220;con man&#8221; and alleging payments to buy the silence of adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
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In the 2023 civil fraud trial, Cohen took the stand in AG Letitia James&#8217; fraud suit, which resulted in a massive judgment against Trump that an appellate panel later rejected in late 2025 as an unconstitutional, excessive fine.
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In the 2024 Manhattan &#8220;hush money&#8221; trial, Cohen served as Bragg’s star witness, claiming Trump personally directed a scheme to conceal a $130,000 payment to Daniels under the guise of legal fees.
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That 2024 criminal trial concluded with a Manhattan jury convicting Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Judge Juan Merchan later sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge with no jail time.
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Trump’s defense team hammered Cohen’s credibility throughout those proceedings, highlighting his past convictions, admitted lies, secret audio recordings, and his profitable media campaign bashing Trump.
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Trump&#8217;s legal team has continuously fought to wipe his slate clean through appeals. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice launched a grand jury investigation into James&#8217; office in August 2025 over potential political retaliation.
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With Trump now claiming Cohen was coerced into fabricating the entire narrative, the battle lines are redrawn.
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Court Hearing Surrounding Searches Of Trump Attorney Michael Cohen Held In New York

Trump Claims Michael Cohen Walks Back Key Case Testimony

The Ultimate Recantation: Trump Claims Michael Cohen Retracts Key Case Testimony

alvin bragg

donald trump

letitia james

michael cohen

politics

stormy daniels

President Donald Trump asked a New York appeals court on Monday to overturn his felony conviction in the Manhattan hush money case, arguing that the trial &#8220;was fatally marred&#8221; by the prosecution using his official acts as president as evidence.
Trump&#8217;s lawyers submitted a 96-page <a href="https://static.politico.com/8b/9e/8663b7e849cf87d9220333fb3a36/2025-00648-people-of-the-state-of-v-people-of-the-state-of-appellant-s-brief-66.pdf">legal filing</a>, accusing the trial court of violating the evidentiary presidential immunity, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year &#8220;bars the &#8216;use of evidence about&#8217; a President’s official acts while in office.&#8221; The filing also argues that the district attorney used &#8220;a convoluted legal theory&#8221; to concoct a &#8220;purported felony,&#8221; and that the judge who oversaw the hush-money trial should have recused himself since he made political contributions to Democrats, POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/28/donald-trump-appeal-hush-money-conviction-00624382?nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&amp;nname=playbook&amp;nrid=00000172-d89e-d8b6-abff-fdff182b0000">reported</a>.
“President Trump’s legal team filed a powerhouse appeal in the Manhattan DA’s Witch Hunt, as the President continues his fight to put an end to the Radical Democrat Lawfare once and for all,&#8221; a spokesman for President Trump&#8217;s legal team said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire. &#8220;The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately overturned and dismissed. President Trump will keep defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn as he focuses on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.”
If successful, the president&#8217;s appeal to the New York Supreme Court would erase his status as a convicted felon, after a Manhattan jury found him guilty on 34 counts of business fraud. The hush money case was brought by Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and the trial was overseen by Judge Juan Merchan, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-overseeing-trumps-hush-money-case-donated-to-bidens-2020-presidential-campaign">donated</a> to Democratic causes, including to former President Joe Biden&#8217;s 2020 campaign.
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The hush money trial was held in the middle of Trump&#8217;s 2024 presidential campaign, with the May 30, 2024, conviction marking Trump as the first former president convicted of felony crimes.
&#8220;This is the most politically charged prosecution in our Nation’s history,&#8221; the legal filing begins. &#8220;After years of fruitless investigation into decade-old, baseless allegations—and under immense political pressure to criminally charge President Donald J. Trump for something—New York’s district attorney (DANY) manufactured felony charges against a once-former and now-sitting President of the United States.&#8221;
The case stemmed from Trump&#8217;s hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, which he made in 2016 to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter in 2006. Trump has maintained that he never had an affair with Daniels.
In Monday&#8217;s legal filing, Trump&#8217;s lawyers argue that prosecutors should have been prevented from pointing to conversations that were held between Trump and his former communications director, Hope Hicks, while Trump was in the White House. During the trial, the DA subpoenaed Hicks, who testified about conversations she held with Trump in the Oval Office, including a discussion she had with the president on “how he would like a team to respond to” a forthcoming Wall Street Journal story. Judge Merchan rejected the defense&#8217;s argument that the prosecution may not use Trump&#8217;s White House conversations as evidence. Weeks later, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling protecting presidential immunity in Trump v. United States.
&#8220;The trial court erroneously held that President Trump’s communications with Hicks were not official because, in the court’s view, they were &#8216;about personal matters involving an alleged affair and a sexual encounter that occurred prior to [President Trump] taking . . . office,'&#8221; Trump&#8217;s legal team argued.

Donald Trump

‘Meritless Hoax’: Trump Asks Appeals Court To Throw Out Hush-Money Conviction

Court

Executive

Hush money

manhattan

new york

On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a New York appeals court to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-sentencing-e20933f9418bd378925e5f9e75f28485" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reverse a judge’s ruling</a> that would schedule Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case on Friday. They also said they would appeal Judge Juan Merchan&#8217;s decision not to dismiss the case on the grounds of presidential immunity.
If the sentencing is delayed beyond January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration, he would be immune from the criminal proceedings.
The attorneys asked Merchan to inform them by Monday afternoon whether he would “allow sufficient time for President Trump to seek an emergency appellate review.” Merchan acknowledged that if the sentencing were postponed beyond the inauguration, sentencing after he leaves office in 2029 “may become the only viable option.” He said he intended to sentence Trump to an “unconditional discharge,” which would entail closing the case without jail time, a fine, or probation.
“Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung stated. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.”
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Judge Merchan ruled last week that Trump’s conviction in the case in which his former attorney, Michael Cohen, made a payment of $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, should not be thrown out of court because he had been elected president.
“The Constitution dictates that only a President, after taking the oath of office, has the authority of the Chief Executive, a President-elect does not. Accordingly, a President-elect is not permitted to avail himself of the protections afforded to the individual occupying that Office. &#8230; Binding precedent does not provide that an individual, upon becoming President, can retroactively dismiss or vacate prior criminal acts nor does it grant blanket Presidential-elect immunity,” Merchan wrote.
“Any claim Defendant may have that circumstances have changed as a result of Defendant’s victory in the Presidential election, while convenient, is disingenuous,” he <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-new-york-criminal-case-excerpts-59e72847cd80e5f0c734b02fa0426e17" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continued</a>. “Defendant has always pronounced, since the inception of this case, confidence and indeed the expectation that he would prevail in the 2024 Election — confidence that has proven well-founded. That he would become the ‘President-elect’ and be required to assume all the responsibilities that come with the transition were entirely anticipated. Thus, it was fair for this Court to trust that his request to adjourn sentencing until after the election carried with it the implied consent that he would face sentence during the window between the election and the taking of the oath of office.”
George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley slammed Merchan&#8217;s decisions against Trump, saying they were the “final cathartic act for lawfare warriors.”

Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump Campaigns In Pennsylvania

Trump’s Lawyers Ask Court To Delay Sentencing in Hush Money Case

courts

Juan Merchan

Judge Juan Merchan delayed the sentencing of former President Donald Trump in his Manhattan hush-money case until November 26, exactly three weeks after the general election.
Trump, who was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/verdict-trump-found-guilty-on-all-charges-in-hush-money-case" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> on all 34 charges in the trial in May, was initially scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, and that date was changed to September 18, which would be only seven weeks before the election. Merchan again postponed the sentencing in a ruling on Friday after Trump and his legal team had pushed for the sentencing date to be moved back to after the November 5 election, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/06/nyregion/trump-sentencing-delay-ruling.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Trump has maintained his innocence in the case, which stems from 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. The former president argues that the case, which was brought by Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is &#8220;election interference.&#8221;
Merchan <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-sentencing-delay-hush-money-case-new-york/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he was delaying the sentencing &#8220;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.&#8221;
&#8220;The Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution,&#8221; he continued, adding that his decision &#8220;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.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s legal team sought to move the Manhattan case from Merchan&#8217;s state courtroom to a federal court before the sentencing, but earlier this week, that effort was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-rejects-effort-by-trump-to-move-new-york-criminal-case-ahead-of-sentencing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.
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“This court does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial,” Hellerstein wrote. “Instead, the proper recourse for parties seeking to remedy alleged errors made during a state trial is to pursue a state appeal or, at the highest level, to seek review from the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Shortly after Trump&#8217;s conviction in May, legal scholars <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/can-the-supreme-court-intervene-after-trumps-conviction-legal-experts-say-yes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the Supreme Court could ultimately step in.
“Ultimately, I think the Supreme Court, if he doesn’t win on appeal, will take this up and reverse,” Attorney Roger Severino told &#8220;Morning Wire&#8221; at the time. “This is a political prosecution. We are better than this as a country and this cannot stand.”
“This is so shocking and unprecedented that we’re even discussing the possibility of putting political opponents in jail in the middle of an election,” he added.
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.

Trump Sentencing Delayed Until After Election

Judge Delays Trump Sentencing In Hush-Money Case Until After Election

2024 election

new york city

Jurors returned a guilty verdict on Thursday in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s hush-money trial in New York, marking the first time a former U.S. president has been convicted of a crime.
The decision is the culmination of a weeks-long courtroom battle in which Trump claimed he was the target of a &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-avenatti-claims-he-is-willing-to-testify-in-trump-hush-money-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">political persecution</a>&#8221; as he runs another campaign for a second term in the White House. The former president was found guilty on all 34 charges brought in the trial.
Legal experts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/29/trump-if-convicted-hush-money-trial-new-york/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubt</a> the 77-year-old Trump will end up being incarcerated, though the Secret Service <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/secret-service-prepares-for-possibility-of-trump-going-to-jail-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> coordinated with local jail officials just in case. Possible alternatives to imprisonment include probation or community service.
Sentencing has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-sets-trump-sentencing-date-four-days-before-gop-convention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scheduled</a> for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention is set to be held in Milwaukee. Trump, who is the presumptive GOP nominee, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/06/trump-running-for-president-prison-00090931" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can still run</a> for the presidency if he ends up behind bars.
In response to the guilty verdict, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-guilty-verdict-with-fiery-statement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivered remarks</a> in which he called himself an &#8220;innocent man&#8221; and declared that the &#8220;real verdict&#8221; will happen on November 5, which is Election Day.
At the heart of the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alvin-bragg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alvin Bragg</a> were <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34 felony counts</a> of falsifying business records to conceal damaging information around the 2016 election as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme.
Prosecutors accused Trump of improperly masking reimbursements to repay his former lawyer, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-cohen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Cohen</a>, for a $130,000 payment to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stormy-daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stormy Daniels</a> in exchange for her silence on an alleged extramarital affair by classifying them as legal expenses.
Trump has denied that the affair with Stormy Daniels ever happened and pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyers <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ny-v-trump-defense-says-prosecutors-did-not-meet-burden-proof-former-president-innocent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> there was no intent to defraud or influence the 2016 election.
The trial began last month and featured nearly <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-trial-closing-arguments-ed9e28cd63502c0949e9fafcc6f0a991" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two dozen witnesses</a>, including Cohen and Stormy Daniels. Cohen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-cohen-admits-to-stealing-while-on-stand-at-trumps-nyc-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded guilty</a> in 2018 to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress, and served prison time.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, former White House aide Hope Hicks, and former federal prosecutor Robert Costello also testified. Trump himself did not take the stand.
Closing arguments took place on Tuesday after both sides rested their case last week and jury deliberations began on Wednesday. The 12 jurors made a couple of requests for information, including to rehear some witness testimony and the judge&#8217;s jury instructions.
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At a news conference on Thursday, Bragg <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prEPxOIl8yg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thanked</a> the jurors for performing a service that he described as &#8220;literally the cornerstone of our judicial system.&#8221;
Commenting on the work of the prosecution, the district attorney said, &#8220;I did my job. Our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor, and that’s exactly what we did here.”
Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, have faced intense blowback from Trump and his allies.
Republicans in the House opened an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-launch-probe-into-manhattan-das-unprecedented-abuse-of-office-to-target-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a> and filed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stefanik-files-complaint-over-trump-hush-money-case-questions-whether-judge-selection-was-random" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaints</a>, raising concerns about potential bias and misconduct tainting the case. With the judge, they set their focus on past donations to groups supporting Democrats and his daughter working as a political consultant for Democratic candidates.
Merchan <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/04/15/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial/no-merchan-recusal-00152227" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused to recuse</a> himself and issued a gag order meant to stop Trump from commenting publicly on jurors, witnesses, and others linked to the case. Trump claimed the gag order <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blasts-hush-money-case-ahead-of-jury-selection-attack-on-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">violated</a> his First Amendment rights and continued to speak out, resulting in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/06/trump-trial-takeaways-hush-money-gag-violations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands of dollars in fines</a>.
Three other criminal matters on the state and federal levels hang over Trump as he seeks re-election this year, prompting the former president to say he is the victim of a politically motivated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-accuses-democrats-of-running-a-gestapo-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;witch hunt.&#8221;</a> It is not clear whether any of those will reach the trial stage before the November election.
Despite all the court battles, Trump <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remains competitive</a> in polling for the presidential race.
On Tuesday, President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a>&#8216;s campaign held an event outside the Manhattan courthouse with actor Robert De Niro, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-de-niros-perturbed-courthouse-presser-looked-so-pathetic-and-sad?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> American freedoms “will perish from the Earth” if Trump wins the election.
Trump shot back, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-de-niros-perturbed-courthouse-presser-looked-so-pathetic-and-sad?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> the De Niro &#8220;looked so pathetic and sad out there.&#8221; His adviser, Jason Miller, said, &#8220;President Trump’s numbers continue to rise, and the best that Biden can do is roll out a washed up actor.&#8221;

Former President Donald Trump’s Hush-Money Criminal Trial

VERDICT: Trump Found Guilty On All Charges In Hush-Money Case

Trump Found Guilty In Hush-Money Case

crime

U.S.

The presiding judge in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s hush money trial in New York dismissed the jury for the rest of the day on Wednesday, meaning a verdict will have to wait.
Jurors are expected to resume deliberations at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
In the hours leading up to the dismissal, jurors made two requests.
The first note they sent to the judge was to ask for transcripts of witness testimony from former Trump lawyer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michael-cohen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Cohen</a> and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
A second request asked to rehear the judge&#8217;s jury instructions, which is <a href="https://x.com/AnnaBower/status/1795909272020086940" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to be resolved on Thursday.
The trial, which began last month, has featured jury selection, opening arguments, testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses, and closing arguments. Jury deliberations began on Wednesday.
At the heart of the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alvin-bragg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alvin Bragg</a> are <a href="https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">34 felony counts</a> of falsifying business records to conceal damaging information around the 2016 election.
Trump is accused of improperly masking reimbursements to repay his former lawyer, Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stormy-daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stormy Daniels</a> in exchange for her silence on an alleged extramarital affair in 2006 by classifying them as legal expenses.
If a guilty verdict is ultimately dealt, Trump will become the first former U.S. president to have been convicted of a crime. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the affair with Stormy Daniels.
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Legal experts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/29/trump-if-convicted-hush-money-trial-new-york/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubt</a> the 77-year-old Trump will end up being incarcerated, though efforts have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/secret-service-prepares-for-possibility-of-trump-going-to-jail-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly been made</a> to coordinate with the Secret Service just in case.
The presiding judge is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/trump-merchan-sentencing-prison-00151613" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to schedule a separate hearing to determine a sentence. Possible alternatives to imprisonment include probation or community service.
Trump has also been trying to fend off three other criminal matters ahead of a potential 2020 rematch against President Joe Biden in November&#8217;s White House contest.
Biden&#8217;s campaign hosted an event outside the courthouse at which actor Robert De Niro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-de-niros-perturbed-courthouse-presser-looked-so-pathetic-and-sad?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that American freedoms “will perish from the Earth” if Trump wins the election.
Some last-minute <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/legal-experts-slam-judge-in-trump-hush-money-case-over-outrageous-jury-instructions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controversy</a> began on Wednesday with the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/29/nyregion/judge-trump-hush-money-trial-jury-instructions.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jury instructions</a> that Merchan gave right before deliberations began, prompting Trump to say the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blasts-rigged-trial-after-jury-instructions-mother-theresa-couldnt-beat-these-charges?topStoryPosition=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trial was &#8220;rigged.&#8221;</a>

Former U.S. President Donald Trump

No Quick Verdict In Trump Hush-Money Trial As Jury Is Dismissed After First Day Of Deliberations

Former President Donald Trump blasted the &#8220;rigged&#8221; trial against him on Wednesday, speaking to members of the press after Judge Juan Merchan gave the jury instructions in his Manhattan hush-money case.
Trump, who has pled &#8220;not guilty&#8221; to all of the charges against him, complained that the trial had been set up in such a way that even a saint could not expect to be acquitted.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨BREAKING: Trump addresses the media as the jury begins to deliberate in the New York &#8220;hush money&#8221; trial:
&#8220;Mother Theresa could not beat these charges&#8230;this whole thing is rigged. The Judge is so conflicted he can&#8217;t breathe.&#8221;
&#8220;I took a big lead in the polls over the last few… <a href="https://t.co/gVaU2ZBKJc">pic.twitter.com/gVaU2ZBKJc</a>
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1795847094844162477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Reporters asked Trump as he exited the courtroom on Wednesday how he felt about the coming verdict, and he made it clear that he still believed the entire trial to be unfair.
&#8220;I would say in listening to the charges from the judges, as, you know, very conflicted and corrupt because of the conflicting — very, very clearly, Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged,&#8221; the former president said.
&#8220;The whole country is a mess between the borders and fake elections. And you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can’t breathe,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;He’s got to do his job. And it’s not for me, that I can tell you. It’s a disgrace. And I mean that Mother Theresa could not beat those charges. But we’ll see. We’ll see how we do.”
Trump went on to point out that other prosecutors had passed on the case seven years earlier, after which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) waited until the run-up to a presidential election to move forward with the case.
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&#8220;Then they have a protest with Robert De Niro yesterday who is a fool, a broken down fool. He got MAGA&#8217;d yesterday. He got a big dose of it,&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;Remember, November 5, the most important day in the history of our country. In the meantime, this trial is rigged.&#8221;
While he awaits the verdict, at least a one of the legal analysts on CNN believes that Trump has a fighting chance to beat the charges. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-legal-analyst-pans-trump-prosecution-as-hush-money-trial-wraps-they-fell-way-short" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense attorney</a> Randy Zelin told anchor Kate Bolduan on Tuesday that the prosecution &#8220;fell way short&#8221; of meeting the burden of proof, saying that there was &#8220;reasonable doubt all over this case.&#8221;

Trump Blasts ‘Rigged’ Trial After Jury Instructions: ‘Mother Theresa Couldn’t Beat These Charges’

Trump Blasts 'Rigged' Trial After Jury Instructions: 'Mother Theresa Couldn't Beat These Charges'

trial

The presiding judge&#8217;s conduct on Tuesday during closing arguments at former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s hush-money trial in New York City made for an &#8220;otherworldly&#8221; experience, according to George Washington University law professor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-level-of-denial-jonathan-turley-rips-into-wapos-last-defense-of-russian-collusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jonathan Turley</a>.
Turley <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2024/05/28/turley_trump_courtroom_was_otherworldly_judge_allowed_jurors_to_believe_trump_violated_federal_election_law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News host Sean Hannity that Judge Juan Merchan allowed prosecutors to discuss former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen&#8217;s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plea deal</a> in a way that implicated his old boss—despite orders not to let that influence the jurors who begin deliberations on Wednesday.
&#8220;What I saw in that courtroom was really otherworldly,&#8221; Turley said. &#8220;I really attempted to give the judge the benefit of doubt on many occasions, but what I saw today was, frankly, outrageous.&#8221;
&#8220;At one point, the prosecutor actually said that Michael Cohen committed federal election violations upon the orders of Donald Trump,&#8221; Turley added. &#8220;Now, Merchan has given an instruction that the jury is not to supposed to attribute Cohen&#8217;s plea deal as an issue of guilt towards Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;So the defense objected and Merchan just overruled it and allowed the prosecutor to repeatedly state that the federal election violations by Trump are a fact and there is not any dispute to that and Merchan just sat there,&#8221; Turley said.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up payments in a bid to conceal a tryst with adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election. Trump denies the affair and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Continuing his critique of the judge, Turley quipped that Merchan was &#8220;as useful as a ficus plant in that courtroom&#8221; as he waited for a &#8220;sign&#8221; that the judge was listening to what prosecutors were saying during the closing arguments.
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At one point, Turley explained, prosecutors said former White House aide Hope Hicks &#8220;burst into tears&#8221; because she knew her testimony during the trial &#8220;destroyed&#8221; Trump&#8217;s defense. &#8220;Really? How do you know that?&#8221; Turley asked rhetorically.
Turley also noted a prosecutor &#8220;basically started to testify&#8221; when saying that &#8220;catch-and-kill techniques&#8221; like what Trump is accused of employing &#8220;are just not used in media or politics.&#8221; Turley added, &#8220;That&#8217;s not in the record. He was giving testimony. There&#8217;s no expert for that.&#8221;
&#8220;Hillary Clinton killed and planted cases in that very election,&#8221; Turley went on. &#8220;Some of the most outrageous hoaxes were perpetrated by the Hillary Clinton campaign with an enabling media. In fact, many of those reporters listening helped the Hillary campaign do that.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s what was so otherworldly about today,&#8221; Turley said. &#8220;And I can&#8217;t imagine a jury member going into deliberations and not assuming that it is an established fact that federal election law violations have occurred.&#8221;

House Judiciary Committee Holds First Impeachment Inquiry Hearing

Turley Recalls ‘Otherwordly’ Experience At Trump Hush-Money Trial

Turley Recalls 'Otherwordly' Experience At Trump Hush-Money Trial

jonathan turley

Judge

CNN legal analyst Randy Zelin, a defense attorney, told CNN anchor Kate Bolduan that he did not believe the prosecution had come anywhere close to meeting its burden in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-trump-trial-has-backfired-spectacularly-on-the-democrats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hush-money trial</a> against former President Donald Trump.
Bolduan set Zelin up for the question, noting that in every court case, the burden of proof rests on the prosecution — and the prosecutor&#8217;s ability to prove the case &#8220;beyond a reasonable doubt&#8221; to the jury.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨CNN LEGAL ANALYST ADMITS BRAGG&#8217;S TEAM &#8220;FELL WAY SHORT&#8221; ON GETTING TRUMP!
&#8220;They fell way short&#8230;There is reasonable doubt all over this case,&#8221; CNN legal analyst Randy Zelin said.
Bragg definitely doesn&#8217;t want you to share this! <a href="https://t.co/FUZ8Dks2ZH">pic.twitter.com/FUZ8Dks2ZH</a>
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BoLoudon/status/1795525019461914799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;The burden of proof is an important one to remind everyone: It’s on the prosecution, right? They need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he commit — that Donald Trump broke the law. And you think after listening to all of this, you think they fell short,&#8221; Bolduan began. &#8220;How?&#8221;
&#8220;They fell way short, because let’s start with reasonable doubt. What is reasonable doubt? And it’s not simply a doubt based upon reason,&#8221; Zelin began.
&#8220;Any time a human being needs to make an important decision in life, if you have enough information, for example, doctor says you need open heart surgery. ‘Doc, go ahead and schedule. I don’t have a reasonable doubt.’ Conversely, if I say, ‘I appreciate it, but I need a second opinion, I need more information,’ that is having a reasonable doubt. There is reasonable doubt all over this case,&#8221; he continued.
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Zelin went on to name several of the prosecution&#8217;s key witnesses and explain why he did not think they had made the case against Trump in a credible way.
&#8220;How did Michael Cohen get away with stealing $30,000? Hold a pity party for him — made $4 million on this, thought he’d be chief of staff. He’s a fixer! If the plumber comes to my house to fix my leak, I could be home. That doesn’t mean I know how he’s doing it and what it’s taking to be fixed,&#8221; Zelin said, suggesting that Trump may have hired a &#8220;fixer,&#8221; but still could have been unaware of the methods <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-mark-meadows-demand-michael-cohen-be-ashe-schow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cohen</a> had employed.
&#8220;Stormy Daniels, let’s hold a pity party for her. Why do we need to know whether or not the former president wore a condom or not?&#8221; he continued. &#8220;It’s simply about: Did the former president know that books, his records, false entries for legal fees — Michael Cohen was his lawyer — getting intent to cover up the election or to protect his family? It’s everywhere. Everywhere!&#8221;

Closing Arguments Begin In Former President Donald Trump’s Hush Money Trial

CNN Legal Analyst Pans Trump Prosecution As Hush-Money Trial Wraps: ‘They Fell Way Short’

CNN Legal Analyst Pans Trump Prosecution As Hush-Money Trial Wraps: 'They Fell Way Short'

Speaking on &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends&#8221; on Monday, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley implicitly criticized the choice of Judge Juan Manuel Merchan for the Donald Trump business records trial in New York, pointing out that the judge had made a political contribution to Joe Biden.
“A lot of people are confused by this because it’s very clear that they say you can’t make political contributions,” Turley <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/20/turley-trump-trial-merchan-judge/">commented</a>. “Well, he did. And the fact that it is ‘de minimis’ or small, really, I think, misses the point. You make donations like that to show your support, that’s what that $15 did. “
“What’s also concerning for many is that Merchan was not randomly selected; he was hand-picked as the judge for this case, and many of us don’t understand it,” he continued. “You’ve got a judge who is a donor to the president, whose daughter is a major Democratic operative, you would think this would be an easy call. There are plenty of other judges.”
Merchan’s daughter Loren serves as president of the political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns, which represents Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead prosecutor in the first impeachment trial of former President Trump.
“Schiff’s campaign for US Senate scored an eye-popping $20 million in aid since he began soliciting donations off the presumptive GOP presidential front-runner’s unprecedented 34-count indictment last April, according to Federal Election Commission records,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/30/us-news/dem-clients-of-daughter-of-judge-in-trump-trial-raised-90m-off-case/">The New York Post</a> noted.
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“So he’s not going to be held accountable to the bar association, but this is one of the many aspects of this trial that are troubling for those who view this as the weaponization of the system,” Turley opined of Merchan.
Turley also criticized Merchan for his handling of the case, saying, “He’s allowed this jury to hear over and over again about election violations. Donald Trump did not commit an election violation. There’s no such violation in this case connected to his payments to [Michael] Cohen. My assumption is that the jury thinks that there were and that you’re allowing Cohen and [former National Enquirer publisher David] Pecker effectively to inform the jury on federal election law until you issue an instruction.”

Biden Impeachment Hearing

Turley Slams Choice Of ‘Hand-Picked’ Trump Judge Who Donated To Biden

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joe biden

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy, who led the successful 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and eleven others in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, <a href="https://grabien.com/story.php?id=472713&amp;utm_source=cliplist&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=cliplist20240514&amp;utm_content=story472713">commented</a> on the ongoing trial of former President Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
The indictment, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accuses Trump of falsifying internal records held by the Trump Organization to hide the intent of payments made to Michael Cohen, who paid off porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal so the stories of their alleged trysts with Trump would not become public in 2016. Cohen claims the Trump Organization reimbursed him along with bonuses; prosecutors contend that the money was falsely logged as legal expenses.
“They haven’t come close to proving that fraud has taken place,” McCarthy stated. “And it’s — they don’t just have to prove that fraud has taken place, they have to prove that it was fraud that included a specific intent to commit another crime, which we believe is a federal campaign finance crime. It’s astonishing that we don’t — we can’t say that with complete certainty, and that’s supposed to be spelled out in the indictment. But there’s not a scintilla of evidence that Trump was even thinking about federal campaign law, let alone that they conspired to violate it.”
“And I think it’s important to make this distinction: You can make an agreement, which as Jonathan just said, is a legal arrangement, to not disclose, or to try to bury politically embarrassing information; you can absolutely intend to do that,” he continued. “That doesn’t mean that you were even thinking about the federal campaign finance laws, much less willfully violating them beyond a reasonable doubt.  This is what Bragg has to prove here to at least get a conviction, at least as a matter of law. Whether they can sway the jury is another matter.”
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He then referred to Cohen&#8217;s testimony: “And the final thing I would say about this is you can put somebody who is even a convicted perjurer on the stand, but generally the agreement that a prosecutor makes to a jury in terms of the commitment that you make in the opening statement and the way you try the case, is that we’re not gonna ask you to convict on the basis of a perjurer’s testimony unless we can show you a document or other testimony or something that corroborates that witness on this disputed point.”
“They are asking this jury, they have to ask this jury, if they’re gonna convict on fraud, to accept this guy’s uncorroborated testimony despite his mountainous credibility problems. That is not something a prosecutor would ordinarily do, which is why I think the prosecutors in my old office, the Southern District of New York, decided not to pursue this case,” he concluded.

Former Federal Prosecutor Holds Briefing On Muslim Brotherhood

‘They Haven’t Come Close’: Andy McCarthy Says Prosecution In Trump Hush Money Case Cannot Prove Fraud

Andrew McCarthy

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke on Tuesday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-speaker-mike-johnson-to-attend-hush-money-trial-in-show-of-support-for-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outside the Manhattan courtroom</a> where Donald Trump&#8217;s hush-money trial is taking place, saying &#8220;it is painfully obvious&#8221; that the presumptive Republican nominee is being unfairly targeted by Democrats ahead of the 2024 election.
Johnson joins multiple Republican lawmakers — including Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), JD Vance (R-OH), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) — who have shown up at the courthouse in solidarity with Trump in recent days. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum, and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy were all in attendance at the courthouse on Tuesday.
&#8220;This is the fifth week that President Trump has been in court for this sham of a trial,&#8221; Johnson told reporters. &#8220;They are doing this intentionally to keep him here, to keep him off of the campaign trail. And I think everybody in the country can see that for what it is.&#8221;
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SPEAKER JOHNSON: Just apply common sense. Everyone can see. It is painfully obvious. We are now *SIX MONTHS* out from Election Day. 
That&#39;s the reason they brought these charges here and across the country. <a href="https://t.co/4bAqgzNIYa">pic.twitter.com/4bAqgzNIYa</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1790389176254226728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged attempt to cover up hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election cycle. The former president is forced to be in the Manhattan courtroom four days a week as he campaigns for president.
Trump has also been hit with 10 fines for violating a gag order imposed on him by Judge Juan Merchan. The order is meant to prevent Trump from talking about jurors, attorneys, court staff, and the judge&#8217;s family during the trial, and Merchan threatened to put Trump behind bars if he violates the gag order again.
During his remarks to the press on Tuesday morning, Johnson slammed the hush-money case against Trump, saying it&#8217;s an example of why the American people are &#8220;losing faith in our system of justice.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m an attorney. I&#8217;m a former litigator myself,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I am disgusted by what is happening here, what is being done here to our entire system of justice overall. The people are losing faith right now in this country, in our institutions. They&#8217;re losing faith in our system of justice. The reason for that is they see it being abused as it is being done here in New York.&#8221;
Johnson pointed to the Justice Department previously investigating Trump&#8217;s alleged hush-money payments and choosing not to pursue any charges.
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&#8220;Eight years later, suddenly they&#8217;ve resurrected this case. They brought it back,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Why is that? Well, just apply common sense. Everyone can see. It is painfully obvious. We are now six months out from election day. That&#8217;s the reason why they brought these charges here and across the country.&#8221;

Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson: ‘Everybody’ Can See Dems Are Prosecuting Trump ‘To Keep Him Off The Campaign Trail’

Mike Johnson: 'Everybody' Can See Dems Are Prosecuting Trump 'To Keep Him Off The Campaign Trail'

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mike johnson

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