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.

Donald Trump

Trump Sentencing Delayed Until After Election

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

2024 Election

Courts

Juan Merchan

New York

New York City

Politics

Stormy Daniels

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

Alvin Bragg

Crime

Michael Cohen

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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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

campaign donation

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

Hush money

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;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
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>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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'

Congress

Liberal comedian Bill Maher slammed adult film star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stormy-daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stormy Daniels</a> this week for her testimony during the criminal trial against former President Donald Trump.
Maher, who made the remarks Friday on his HBO show &#8220;Real Time,&#8221; said that Daniels was a &#8220;bad witness&#8221; and then played clips of his 2018 interview with her.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not a &#8216;Me Too&#8217; case,&#8221; Daniels said at the time. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t assaulted. I wasn&#8217;t attacked, or raped, or coerced, or blackmailed. &#8230; They tried to shove me in the MeToo box to further their own agenda. And first of all, I didn&#8217;t want to be part of that because it&#8217;s not the truth and I&#8217;m not a victim in that regard.&#8221;
Maher noted that Daniels has since struck a different tone.
He said, &#8220;She&#8217;s talking about ‘he was bigger and blocking the way.’ It&#8217;s all the MeToo buzzwords. She said, ‘There was an imbalance of power for sure.’ ‘My hands were shaking so hard.’ She said she blacked out. Blacked out? She&#8217;s a porn star! … Do you really think she blacked out? A porn star is used to having sex with people she doesn&#8217;t [like] … I just think she&#8217;s not a good witness.&#8221;
WARNING: Strong Language
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WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Bill Maher Drops Unexpected Bomb on Democrats’ Fading Hope to Jail Trump
“The Democrats have had four years to put Trump on trial and it is all just going away. They blew it at every turn.”
1.) Fani Willis is having an affair with the guy she hired. “And now that one’s going to… <a href="https://t.co/yEaksMSzrb">pic.twitter.com/yEaksMSzrb</a>
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1789128345478717768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2024</a></blockquote>

Bill Maher Plays Vid From 2018 Stormy Daniels Interview As Evidence She’s ‘Bad Witness’

Bill Maher

The court in New York is currently trying Donald Trump on charges that are completely specious — charges that, effectively speaking, he paid off Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election for electoral purposes as opposed to personal purposes, charges that have not been sustained by any sort of federal criminal prosecution against Trump.
What is all that really about?
What it’s about is humiliating Donald Trump.
I don&#8217;t know why Democrats seem to think this is going to affect Trump in any way, shape, or form. Trump has been part of the seamier side of American politics and business for decades. There&#8217;s a reason he was in a tape for Playboy. There is a reason he was seen as a Studio 54 guy for years and years.
It&#8217;s not as though Trump has led the most pristine sexual life. And no one at this point is surprised by any of the allegations that were made in court yesterday.
But that did not stop Democrats from dragging Stormy Daniels into court. She is the heroine of the Republic because, as it turns out, all it takes to be a heroine in American life now is to be a porn star who has sex with a married man and then effectively blackmails that married man for money.
And then, when the deal fell through, Daniels decided to go public with all of that to harm him.
That is what heroism truly is, so long as that married man is a Republican. If the married man is a Democrat, as we all know, it&#8217;s time to wreck the woman. If that married man is Bill Clinton, then it&#8217;s time to completely wreck Monica Lewinsky’s life. That is how this works.
All of this came to a head yesterday.
Prior to going into court yesterday, Trump suggested all of this was coming out of the “crooked Biden White House.” The orders may not have come directly from the White House, but it is very clear that Democrats in the city of New York have decided they are going to engage in electoral interference. That&#8217;s what this stupid case is.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1960-stormy-talks-spanking-member-exclusive-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
Trump went into the courtroom where the judge, who is absolutely oriented against Trump at this particular trial, decided to allow the testimony of Stormy Daniels.
To be extremely clear, there is no legal reason Stormy Daniels had to testify. She brought nothing useful to the court. There was no reason whatsoever for her to be in the courtroom. Whether or not she had sex with Trump is completely irrelevant to the charges that are being brought because they are about whether he — via his lawyer Michael Cohen — paid her off prior to the election and then reimbursed Cohen after the election, and whether it was a campaign finance expense as opposed to a personal payoff designed to quash the rumors so as not to bother his wife, Melania.
The case the defense is making is that this is the kind of payment that is constantly made in American life. It can&#8217;t just be pinned on the election.
The case the prosecution is trying to make is that this was all about stealing the 2016 election by silencing Daniels, as though any of the Daniels material coming out prior to the 2016 election would have saved Hillary Clinton, which we know is not the truth because there was a tape of Trump talking about grabbing women by their genitals and he still won. You think a tryst with a porn star would have changed the outcome in 2016?
Daniels talked about her sexual tryst with Trump in 2006. Now, you may be asking yourself, isn&#8217;t the year 2024? Wasn&#8217;t this affair almost two decades ago? What the hell are we talking about Trump&#8217;s 2006 sex life for?
That&#8217;s because you&#8217;re a rational human being. We&#8217;re talking about Trump&#8217;s 2006 sex life because the Democrats need some hook to hang their hat on to claim he&#8217;s a convicted felon. They charged him with 34 counts of felony campaign finance violation in the city of New York.
The plan was to get Stormy Daniels in the room saying shameful things about Donald Trump.
This whole thing was a put-up job. It was all designed so Daniels could unspool this bizarre story about the one time she slept with the future president, the time she spanked him with a rolled up magazine.
Her original story was that they had this awkward encounter she didn&#8217;t really enjoy, but she didn&#8217;t say no. Now, she treats it as though it&#8217;s a quasi-rape.
During her testimony, Daniels <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/07/stormy-daniels-testimony-trump-hush-money-trial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>, “I was staring at the ceiling. I didn’t know how I got there.”
Really? She went up to his room and then didn&#8217;t say no as he had sex with her. She has had sex with people on camera for a living. This was not her first rodeo.
The attempt to turn Daniels into a resistance hero is quite pathetic. It&#8217;s designed to be a laugh line for the Left wing, which is why journalists spent the day guffawing at Trump.
I&#8217;m going to put it out there as a warning to people on the Left laughing at Donald Trump: The last time you laughed at Donald Trump, when Barack Obama made a joke about him at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Trump got angry, ran for president, and became president.
So good luck with the laughter.
If this is the best the Democrats have, they ain&#8217;t got nothing.

Celebrity Sightings In New York City – March 21, 2024

Stormy Talks Spanking

Ben Shapiro

Court

Opinion

CNN legal analyst <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnns-honig-on-fani-willis-screwups-that-led-to-judge-kicking-some-charges-embarrassing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elie Honig</a> said adult film actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stormy-daniels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stormy Daniels</a> gave &#8220;disastrous&#8221; responses during her appearance on Tuesday at former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s New York City hush-money trial.
During a segment on CNN with other legal experts, Honig offered his take on the testimony, which included Stormy Daniels discussing her alleged 2006 hotel tryst with Trump that the former president has denied. While he contended that Daniels was believable when it came to the sex claim, Honig argued the cross-examination could spell trouble for prosecutors.
&#8220;The cross-exam, boy, her responses were disastrous. I mean, &#8216;Do you hate Donald Trump?&#8217; &#8216;Yes.&#8217; Of course she does. That&#8217;s a big deal. When the witness hates the person whose liberty is at stake? That&#8217;s a big damn deal.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="‘Disastrous’: Honig weighs in on Stormy Daniels’ responses during cross-examination" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mchsOA2RDus?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>
In the case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up payments, including to Daniels, in a bid to conceal damaging information as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial began last month, and Daniels took the stand on Tuesday.
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During the cross-examination, Daniels said &#8220;yes&#8221; after being asked if she hated Trump. When pressed on whether she wants Trump to go to jail, Daniels <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-hush-money-trial-day-13-live-updates-rcna150793/rcrd41250?canonicalCard=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> she wants &#8220;him to be held accountable&#8221; and &#8220;if he is found guilty, absolutely.&#8221; She also faced <a href="https://deadline.com/2024/05/trump-hush-money-trial-stormy-daniels-3-1235907053/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">questions</a> about tweets suggesting she does not want to pay $500,000 in legal fees to Trump after a failed defamation lawsuit.
&#8220;The defense is going to say she&#8217;s willing to defy a court order,&#8221; Honig said after raising these issues. &#8220;Why — she&#8217;s not willing to respect an order of a judge, why is she going to respect this oath she took? I thought it went quite poorly on cross-exam. At the end of direct, I thought, OK, they got what they needed. But I think the cross is making real inroads.&#8221;
Earlier, Honig said his impression was that Stormy Daniels had been &#8220;plausible on her explanation of what happened in that hotel room&#8221; in 2006. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard for me to believe that a juror heard that and thought, this is entirely made up,&#8221; he said, adding that although there &#8220;may well be some embellishments,&#8221; he thought it was &#8220;quite clear they had sex in 2006 in that hotel room.&#8221;

Stormy Daniels Gave ‘Disastrous’ Testimony In Trump Trial, CNN Legal Analyst Says

Stormy Daniels Gave 'Disastrous' Testimony In Trump Trial, CNN Legal Analyst Says

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