United States – A judge from the New York court denied for the third time a motion for recusal from the case in which Donald Trump was found guilty of the charges concerning hush money paid to a porn star dismissing the conflict of interest-bearing his daughter’s consultancy work for the US political parties, as reported by Reuters.
Third Recusal Motion
As he did in April and in August of 2023, Justice Juan Merchan, in a decision on Wednesday, rejected an application of Trump lawyers to disqualify him from the first case involving criminal charges against a former U. S. president. Merchan is expected to pronounce the extended jail term for Trump on September 18.
“Defendant has provided nothing new for this Court to consider. Counsel has merely repeated arguments that have already been denied by this and higher courts” and were “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims,” Merchan wrote in the ruling, dated Aug. 13.
In an interview, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney asked not to be quoted, commenting only that they wouldn’t be able to provide comments.
”The Highly Conflicted Judge should have recused himself from this case a long time ago,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement ahead of the ream’s filing of the motion for reconsideration.
Trump Convicted on 34 Felony Counts
Trump was convicted by a jury on 30 May on 34 felony counts of filing and perpetrating fraud, specifically for having concealed former individual lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to hush out a sex scandal prior to the 2016 U. S. election.
Two months later, his lawyers made their third attempt to get Merchan to recuse himself from the case, stating that his daughter works for a political consultancy firm contracted to serve Democrat campaigns, including the failed run by Kamala Harris for the Democrats’ presidential nomination.
Harris, the incumbent VP, was the Democratic party’s flag bearer in the November 5 U. S election against the Republican nominee, Trump.
It is illegal to embezzle and falsify business records, which are banned and may lead to up to 4 years imprisonment if convicted, while others convicted of the same crime have been penalized by fines and probation, among others.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which brought the charges, deemed Trump’s recusal request as a frivolous move seeking to readdress an issue that has been dealt with twice.
“No amount of overheated, hyperbolic rhetoric can cure the fatal defects in defendant’s ongoing effort to impugn the fairness of these proceedings,” prosecutors wrote in an Aug. 1 court filing.
The payout to Daniels was to ensure her non-disclosure prior to the 2016 election of the alleged affair she had with Trump a decade prior, which Trump disputed. He later triumphed over the democrat Hillary Clinton to become the president of the United States of America.
Merchan did not grant a motion to recuse himself in April, prior to the trial, and also didn’t do so last year when an ethics committee established that his daughter’s employment was not reasonable enough to raise a presumption of bias by the judge.
During the trial, Trump used his social media account to dismiss Merchan as a highly conflicted conductor of a kangaroo court. In his social media post before the trial, Trump provoked Merchan by insinuating that this man’s daughter earns her money by working to Get Trump.” This influenced Merchan to broaden the gag order to prohibit the ex-president from making public comments regarding family members of court staff or prosecutors, as reported by Reuters.
Upcoming Ruling on Trump’s Conviction
Trump’s lawyers individually have filed motions requesting that the judge dismiss the former president’s conviction based on the US Supreme Court decision of July, which granted former presidents immunity to prosecution for any official actions they performed in their capacity as presidents. Merchan has said that he will rule on Trump’s arguments by September 16.
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