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Tag: Alvin bragg

Trump Hush Money Trial
April 18, 2024
Ed Kozak
Lawfare

DATA: 2 in 3 Think Trump Charges Are Bogus.

An overwhelming number of American voters agree with top legal scholars and the Trump campaign that the charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are spurious. Only about one-third of Americans say they believe former President Donald Trump engaged in illegal activity for which he’s being prosecuted in the New York hush-money trial, which began on Monday.

According to new survey data from AP-NORC, 35 percent of Americans believe the former President engaged in illegal activity. However, 31 percent said they thought his actions were unethical but did not rise to the level of being against the law, and 14 percent said Trump did nothing wrong.

The District Attorney prosecuting the case, Alvin Bragg, has faced criticism from the legal community for bringing the charges against the former President. When Bragg filed charges against Trump just over a year ago, even some of the former President’s harshest critics in Congress expressed skepticism regarding the legal theories underpinning the District Attorney’s case.

“I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said at that time. He added: “The prosecutor’s overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system.” Romney twice voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump.

The AP-NORC survey also reveals that a majority of those polled agree that the former President is unlikely to receive a fair trial in Manhattan. Trump’s attorneys have requested a venue change, but Democrat-connected Judge Juan Merchan has rejected those motions.

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An overwhelming number of American voters agree with top legal scholars and the Trump campaign that the charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are spurious. Only about one-third of Americans say they believe former President Donald Trump engaged in illegal activity for which he's being prosecuted in the New York hush-money trial, which began on Monday. show more
Fox News Far-Left Activists Trump Jury
April 17, 2024
William Upton
Lawfare

WATCH: Even FOX Admits Far-Left Activists Attempt Trump Jury Infiltration.

Even the globalist, Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News is admitting that far-left activists have attempted to infiltrate the jury in former President Donald Trump‘s New York ‘hush money’ trial. Last night, Jesse Waters — a primetime host with the anti-Trump Murdoch’s network — pointed to instances where the former President’s legal team exposed several potential jurors as having lied about their political bias and social media posts regarding Trump.

“Trump’s legal team was given the names of potential jurors, and after googling them, discovered there were undercover activists trying to sneak on to the jury,” Waters said.

JURORS MISLED THE COURT.

The legal team for former President Donald Trump was able to strike several prospective jurors with cause before they could be seated. In almost every instance, the jury candidate had attempted to mislead the court about their knowledge of or bias against the former President.

One potential juror told the court they were impartial, but Trump’s attorneys quickly provided the court with social media posts by that juror stating, “Donald Trump should be locked up.” In another instance, a prospective juror said they couldn’t remember making any negative posts about Trump. Again, Trump’s attorneys produced evidence of social media posts showing the exact opposite.

Another juror, who works in cybersecurity, told the court that she could be unbiased. However, after her dismissal, she was interviewed outside the courthouse and admitted she lied. “It’s very difficult for anyone, really in this country, to not come to this with prior opinions,” she said before continuing: “We all have prior opinions about the defendant unless you’ve been living in a cardboard box.”

‘REMEMBER, THIS IS A MANHATTAN JURY.’

“Remember, this is a Manhattan jury. It [Manhattan] went 87 percent for Biden. And the judge who is overseeing the selection process is a Biden donor whose family was paid by the Biden campaign,” Waters said. He continued: “Yesterday, fifty white women, wearing masks, fled the courtroom claiming they couldn’t be fair to Trump.”

“Anyone wearing a mask at this point is not an impartial juror,” he added.

WATCH: 

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Even the globalist, Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News is admitting that far-left activists have attempted to infiltrate the jury in former President Donald Trump's New York 'hush money' trial. Last night, Jesse Waters — a primetime host with the anti-Trump Murdoch's network — pointed to instances where the former President's legal team exposed several potential jurors as having lied about their political bias and social media posts regarding Trump. show more
Trump Jury So Far
April 17, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Lawfare

7 of 12 Trump Jurors Have Been Picked. Here’s What We Know About Them…

Seven jurors have been selected to serve on Donald Trump’s election interference trial in New York so far, amid a grueling jury selection process. Here’s what we know about them.

  1. The first juror, who will act as foreman, is an immigrant from Ireland. He is a married, childless salesman described as having “some” college education. He said he receives his news from the New York Times, Daily Mail, far-left MSNBC, and centrist Fox News;
  2. The second juror is a native New Yorker. She is an unmarried, childless oncology nurse who lives with a fiancé. She said she receives her news from the New York Times and CNN;
  3. The third juror is originally from Oregon. He is an unmarried, childless corporate lawyer. He receives his news from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Google;
  4. The fourth juror is from Puerto Rico. He is married, has adult children and two grandchildren, and runs an IT business. He describes Trump as someone who “makes things interesting”;
  5. The fifth juror is an unmarried, childless black woman who teaches English in a public charter school, with a master’s degree. She has said that as a person “of color” she has friends with strong views on Trump. She is the only juror selected so far who claims to be unaware of the other criminal cases against him;
  6. The sixth juror is unmarried and childless and lives with a trio of roommates. She is described as a recent college graduate who works as a software engineer at a large broadcaster. She receives her news from the New York Times, Google, Facebook, and TikTok;
  7. The seventh juror is originally from North Carolina and lives in Upper East Side Manhattan. A lawyer, she is married with two children. She receives her news from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Washington Post and claims she doesn’t “have opinions about [Trump] personally.
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Seven jurors have been selected to serve on Donald Trump's election interference trial in New York so far, amid a grueling jury selection process. Here's what we know about them. show more
April 17, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Crime
Election 2024

Trump Visits Harlem, Crowd Chants ‘Four More Years!’

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump stepped away from his criminal trial to visit Hamilton Heights bodega worker Jose Alba. Alba had been charged with murder after defending himself against Austin Simon, an ex-convict who jumped the counter in his store back in July 2022. The charges were brought by Alvin Bragg, the Democrat district attorney currently prosecuting Trump in Manhattan.

During his visit to the bodega, Trump was greeted with enthusiastic support. Crowds sang The Star-Spangled Banner and chanted “four more years!” Trump promised them that a new administration was “going to be saving America” after the presidential elections in November.

Alba’s aborted prosecution, which earned public backlash after security footage indicated he acted in self-defense, has given weight to Trump’s campaigning against the Democrats’ harsh attitude towards the law-abiding and leniency towards lawbreakers.

“There’s no crime,” Trump said of Bragg’s case against him. “You know where the crime is? In the bodegas where they come and rob them every week. Alvin Bragg does nothing. He goes after guys like Trump who did nothing wrong,”

During his visit, Trump expressed his fondness for New York City and said his campaign would be “making a big play” for its traditionally Democrat-voting state in November.

“I love this city, and it’s gone so bad in the last three years, four years, and we’re going to straighten New York out,” he promised.

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On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump stepped away from his criminal trial to visit Hamilton Heights bodega worker Jose Alba. Alba had been charged with murder after defending himself against Austin Simon, an ex-convict who jumped the counter in his store back in July 2022. The charges were brought by Alvin Bragg, the Democrat district attorney currently prosecuting Trump in Manhattan. show more
Merchan Bragg
April 16, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Lawfare

Democrat DA Bragg Asks Judge to Find Trump in Contempt of Court on Day 2 of Trial.

Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg has asked New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan to find Donald Trump in contempt of court, alleging he has violated a gag order preventing him from speaking freely about people connected to his case.

Bragg, a Democrat whose election campaign was financed by George Soros via a political action committee (PAC), wants the former president to be fined $3,000 and threatened with up to a month behind bars for further breaches.

Judge Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, banning him from attacking court staff, witnesses, and others in March. This was later expanded to include his family after his daughter’s ties to the Joe Biden regime reinvigorated calls for him to recuse himself.

Bragg alleges Trump breached the order with Truth Social posts about Michael Cohen, the disbarred lawyer and convicted perjuror, and Stephanie Clifford, who performs sex acts for money as Stormy Daniels.

Trump shared a statement by Daniels admitting she did not have sexual relations with him. Allegations a settlement paid to Daniels by Cohen on behalf of Trump was filed incorrectly in 2017 form the heart of Bragg’s novel case.

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Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg has asked New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan to find Donald Trump in contempt of court, alleging he has violated a gag order preventing him from speaking freely about people connected to his case. show more
April 16, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Lawfare

CNN Admits ‘It’s An Election Interference Trial’ – BUT Not For the Obvious Reason…

CNN legal analyst and globalist hatchet man Norman Eisen has argued it is “wrong” to describe George Soros-backed District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Donald Trump in Manhattan as a “hush money” case.

“We should call it an ‘election interference’ trial going forward,” Eisen said, echoing a sentiment often expressed by Trump himself – though the CNN employee believes it is Trump, not his Democrat prosecutors, who may be responsible for the interference.

Eisen noted that Democrat-linked Judge Juan Merchan, describing the case to potential jurors, said the allegations “that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

“Paying hush money by itself is not a crime. The crime alleged in this case is felony document falsification, as the judge detailed. That requires intent to conceal, aid or commit another crime,” Eisen explained.

“Here, the prosecution alleges that the intent was to violate federal campaign finance laws and also the state statute prohibiting the ‘unlawful influence’ of an election — i.e., election interference.”

NOVEL APPROACH. 

This approach by Bragg, which has allowed him to elevate the charges against Trump from misdemeanor to felony, is novel and, in the eyes of many legal experts, dubious, as the “other crime” the former president supposedly committed is not being prosecuted.

Eisen conceded the alleged accounting issues with so-called “hush money” payments to Stormy Daniels to settle claims of an affair, which Trump denies, date from 2017, after the 2016 election had concluded.

The CNN analyst argues the payment was itself election interference, however, claiming “no one can seriously dispute that the reason… Trump allegedly hatched the scheme was to deprive voters of information that could have changed the outcome of an extremely close election.”

“When information is withheld from voters, as Bragg alleges happened here, that undermines democracy… It is an election interference [trial] and we should say so,” he concluded.

He did not touch on whether censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 would qualify as election interference on behalf of Biden under this definition.

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CNN legal analyst and globalist hatchet man Norman Eisen has argued it is "wrong" to describe George Soros-backed District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecution of Donald Trump in Manhattan as a "hush money" case. show more
Barron Trump
April 15, 2024
William Upton
Lawfare

Judge May Force Trump to Miss Son Barron’s High School Graduation.

The Democrat-connected judge presiding over the New York hush money trial of former President Donald Trump acknowledged that he received a request to excuse the former President from the court on May 17 so that he could attend his son Barron Trump‘s high school graduation in Florida. New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said he wouldn’t immediately rule on the request, adding: “It really depends on if we are on time and where we are in the trial.”

Earlier on Monday, Merchan announced the trial schedule, noting that the court would work through lunch on April 22 and April 23 — the first two days of the Jewish celebration of Passover. He added that the court would not convene on the last two days of Passover, April 29 and April 30.

In addition to former President Trump’s request to attend his son’s graduation, one of District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s prosecution team members requested the court adjourn on June 3 so they may attend their child’s graduation. Aside from the requested adjournments and court schedule around Passover, the judge announced that the trial would not convene on Wednesdays.

The initial stage of the trial, jury selection, began on Monday. That process is expected to take upwards of two weeks, meaning the argument stage of the trial won’t start until the end of April or early May.

Judge Merchan recently expanded a gag order on former President Trump, effectively barring him from mentioning the judge’s family members and those of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The former President has used social media to draw attention to the fact that Judge Merchan’s daughter has numerous ties to prominent Democrat politicians, including New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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The Democrat-connected judge presiding over the New York hush money trial of former President Donald Trump acknowledged that he received a request to excuse the former President from the court on May 17 so that he could attend his son Barron Trump's high school graduation in Florida. New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said he wouldn't immediately rule on the request, adding: "It really depends on if we are on time and where we are in the trial." show more
trump gag order
April 9, 2024
Lawfare

Appellate Court WILL Hear Trump Motion To Lift Gag Order in New York ‘Hush Money’ Trial.

A New York appeals court is set to weigh in on Judge Juan Merchan‘s broad gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump. The former President’s motion to appeal the order was advanced to the full judicial panel following the ruling of an appellate judge earlier on Tuesday.

Despite granting a hearing before the full appellate court, the judge denied an additional motion by Trump’s attorneys to delay the start of the ‘hush money’ pending the gag order appeal. The full appellate panel, however, could reconsider the motion and decide to stay the trial while they weigh whether Judge Merchan’s order violates the former President’s constitutional rights. The ‘hush money’ trial is set to begin on Monday with jury selection.

Merchan’s far-reaching gag order prevents Trump from expressing public remarks on the trial’s participants and court members, including potential jurors. Merchan imposed the order after Trump began posting on social media revelations linking the judge’s daughter to numerous Democrat Party leaders, including New York’s Attorney General Letitia James.

Early on Tuesday, the former President’s defense attorney, Emil Bove, argued that the gag order prevents Trump from fending off attacks from expected witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, as well as prosecutor Alvin Bragg. In his appeal, Trump contended the gag order’s prohibition on public comments caused “irreparable harm.”

The full appellate court will hear written arguments from both parties by April 29. It is also expected to rule on whether to move the trial from its current venue in Manhattan. Trump‘s defense team has argued that the local jury pool is overwhelmingly biased toward the prosecution.

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A New York appeals court is set to weigh in on Judge Juan Merchan's broad gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump. The former President's motion to appeal the order was advanced to the full judicial panel following the ruling of an appellate judge earlier on Tuesday. show more
April 2, 2024
William Upton
Lawfare

Daughter of Judge Presiding Over Stormy Daniels ‘Hush Money’ Trial Linked to Letitia James and Democrat AG Association.

Evidence continues to mount that the judge presiding over Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s “hush-money” prosecution of former President Donald Trump should be conflicted out of the legal proceedings. Investigative reporter Laura Loomer has uncovered a direct financial relationship between Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter, Loren, and the Democrat Democrat Attorney’s General Association (DAGA).

According to campaign finance disclosure documents, DAGA made several payments throughout 2023 to Authentic, a digital marketing firm that employs Loren Merchan. At least one payment was made last October while James’s civil fraud prosecution against Trump was ongoing.

The DAGA connection raises a potential conflict of interest regarding the judge’s relationship with New York’s anti-Trump Attorney General Letitia James, who is a member of the Democrat group. James has overseen an aggressive lawfare campaign against Trump in New York. In February, James won a $364 civil fraud judgment against the former President in a case also overseen by a judge accused of political bias. Disgraced attorney Michael Cohen, a key witness in Bragg’s prosecution, also provided critical testimony for James’s prosecution.

While the connections between DAGA, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Juan Merchan may appear tangential, New York state law regarding judicial recusals is fairly expansive. A judge is disqualified from presiding over a case “if he is related by consanguinity or affinity to any party to the controversy within the sixth degree.” While some in the corporate media have claimed that Loren Merchan’s anti-Trump social media posts do not merit her father’s disqualification, it would appear that her business relationship with DAGA — and Letitia James — may.

Late yesterday, Judge Merchan expanded his gag order against Donald Trump to include barring him from speaking about Loren Merchan — effectively silencing the former President’s ability to draw attention to the judge’s potential conflict of interest.

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Evidence continues to mount that the judge presiding over Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's "hush-money" prosecution of former President Donald Trump should be conflicted out of the legal proceedings. Investigative reporter Laura Loomer has uncovered a direct financial relationship between Judge Juan Merchan's daughter, Loren, and the Democrat Democrat Attorney’s General Association (DAGA). show more
April 2, 2024
Ed Kozak
Lawfare

Judge Merchan Expands Gag to Mask His Daughter’s Democratic Party Links.

New York Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump’s so-called “hush money” trial, expanded his gag order Monday night after Trump and his attorneys highlighted troubling connections between Merchan’s daughter and the Democratic Party machine. The original reporting on the subject was done by investigative journalist Laura Loomer.

Merchan decreed that Trump is barred from “attacking” his family members as well as those of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump is also barred from “attacking” witnesses, prosecutors, court staff members, and their relatives. Trump was directed by Merchan to “refrain” from talking about those involved in another gag order issued last week.

The former President’s “pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose. It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for Defendant’s vitriol,” Merchan said. “It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings. The threat is very real.”

‘REAL AND LEGITIMATE CONCERNS.’

Merchan’s expanded gag order was issued in the wake of Trump’s attacks on his daughter, Loren Merchan. Loren Merchan runs a Democratic-aligned campaign firm called Authentic Campaigns that has received millions of dollars from high-profile Democrats, raising serious conflict-of-interest questions about Juan Merchan and his impartiality.

“Your Honor’s daughter’s close connection to President Trump’s political adversaries and her work at, and financial interest in, a firm deeply engrained with Democratic politics raises real and legitimate concerns about this Court’s impartiality,” Trump’s attorneys argued on Monday. “The financial well-being of Your Honor’s daughter depends at least in part on the success of Authentic. And Authentic’s business model is one that requires it to attack President Trump and support individuals and causes in direct competition with President Trump,” they added.

Despite the obvious conflict-of-interest concerns, Merchan — who is also a Biden donor — has refused to recuse himself.

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New York Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump's so-called "hush money" trial, expanded his gag order Monday night after Trump and his attorneys highlighted troubling connections between Merchan's daughter and the Democratic Party machine. The original reporting on the subject was done by investigative journalist Laura Loomer. show more