Afp
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, August 15, 2024, p. 27
New York. Donald Trump failed yesterday, for the third time, in his attempt to remove the judge who will sentence him for having covered up the payment to a former porn actress with whom he had an extramarital affair, and buying her silence.
Lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate have again argued that the work of the daughter of Colombian-born judge Juan Merchan for a Democratic-leaning organization creates a conflict of interestso he should recuse himself.
Last May, a jury found the former president guilty of 34 crimes for covering up payments to silence Stormy Daniels.
On Sept. 16, the judge will consider a motion by the Republican’s lawyers to vacate the verdict and dismiss the case, citing a Supreme Court ruling in July on presidential immunity.
Depending on the outcome of that hearing, Merchan has scheduled Trump’s sentencing announcement for Sept. 18.
In his rejection of the tycoon’s request, the judge commented: The defendant’s arguments are nothing more than a repetition of stale and unsubstantiated claims..
Previously, a New York state ethics panel had found no problem with Merchan continuing to handle the case, and the judge said the The court will continue to base its decisions on evidence and the law, without fear or favor, leaving aside undue influence..
Despite the ethics ruling, Trump’s legal team insisted that Merchan’s daughter’s work — which they said included past fundraising efforts for Democrat Kamala Harris — undermined the judge’s independence.
In a tirade on his Truth Social platform, the mogul called voter suppression and manipulation an order from Merchan that limits its ability to attacking the judge’s relatives.
Trump, the first former US president to be convicted by a court, has been doing everything he can to overturn the New York ruling and postpone other pending trials until after the November election.
The billionaire faces charges in Washington and Georgia related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.