Donald Trump Fails in Third Attempt to Dismiss Judge in Hush Money Case as US Presidential Election Approaches

Hush Money Case: Judge Juan Merchan denied Donald Trump’s lawyers’ third request for recusal, citing baseless claims and inaccuracies. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts related to concealing a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

A New York judge has again refused to recuse himself from the case where Donald Trump was convicted of charges related to hush money paid to a porn star. Justice Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s claim of a conflict of interest due to the political consultancy work of the judge’s daughter.

In a ruling released on Wednesday, Merchan denied Trump’s lawyers’ third request for recusal, echoing his decisions from April and August 2023. The judge criticized the defense for presenting no new evidence and repeating arguments previously rejected by both this court and higher courts, describing them as “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims.” Merchan is set to sentence Trump on September 18.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

In response to the ruling, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung stated, “The Highly Conflicted Judge should have long ago recused himself from this case.”

On May 30, Trump was convicted by a jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for concealing a $130,000 payment by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, intended to prevent a scandal before the 2016 U.S. election.

Two months later, Trump’s lawyers made a third request for Judge Merchan to step aside. They argued that the judge’s daughter’s work for a political consultancy, which has included clients such as Democratic campaigns and Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential bid, created a conflict of interest.

Harris, now the vice president, is the Democratic presidential candidate challenging Republican nominee Trump in the upcoming U.S. election on November 5.

Falsifying business records, a crime carrying a potential sentence of up to four years in prison, has typically resulted in fines or probation for others convicted of the offense.

Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which brought the charges, dismissed Trump’s recusal request as a “frivolous” attempt to revisit an issue that had already been resolved twice.

In an August 1 court filing, prosecutors stated, “No amount of overheated, hyperbolic rhetoric can cure the fatal defects in defendant’s ongoing effort to impugn the fairness of these proceedings.”

The payment to Daniels was made in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election regarding an alleged sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which Trump has denied. Despite the controversy, Trump won the presidency, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In April, Merchan rejected a recusal request before jury selection and again last year after an ethics panel determined that his daughter’s work did not raise reasonable concerns about his impartiality.

During the trial, Trump used his social media platform to criticize Merchan, calling him a “highly conflicted” overseer of a “kangaroo court.” Before the trial, Trump also claimed on social media that Merchan’s daughter “makes money by working to ‘Get Trump.'” These comments contributed to Merchan’s decision to expand a gag order, prohibiting Trump from publicly commenting on the family members of court staff or prosecutors.

Separately, Trump’s lawyers have requested that the judge overturn his conviction, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from July that grants former presidents broad immunity from prosecution for official acts taken while in office. Merchan has indicated he will rule on Trump’s arguments by September 16.