Manhattan DA fights Trump’s recusal motion in hush-money case: Ex-president has no ‘veto’ power over judges – By Adam Klasfeld (Law & Crime) / June 20, 2023
Former President Donald Trump should not have “veto” power over the judge presiding over his criminal case in New York, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) argued in attempting to fend off a recusal motion.
Facing mounting criminal exposure in state and federal court, Trump has made his attacks against Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan a pivot point of his counteroffensive in New York, where the ex-president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels.
His legal team leveled various complaints about the judge, trying to paint Merchan as partisan. Merchan’s daughter worked at a consulting firm tied to prominent Democratic figures. The judge contributed small amounts of money to then-candidate Joe Biden and a political action committee called Stop Republicans, totaling $35, and Merchan also presided over separate tax fraud cases involving the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, which ended in convictions.
