‘The court is unpersuaded’: Judge slaps Trump with gag order in hush money criminal case, scoffs at claims he hasn’t attacked witness in this case

Left: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg walks in the hallway outside a courtroom where former President Donald Trump is attending a hearing in his criminal case on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star in New York, Monday, March 25, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Pool Photo via AP)/Right: Former President Donald Trump speaks during news conference Monday, March 25, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Left: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg walks in the hallway outside a courtroom where former President Donald Trump is attending a hearing in his criminal case on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star in New York, Monday, March 25, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Pool Photo via AP)/Right: Former President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference on Monday, March 25, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Former President Donald Trump was allowed to file a brief outlining the entirety of a secondary effort to force the removal of the judge overseeing his New York City hush-money case.

In a 37-page filing made public late Friday, Trump’s attorneys argue New York Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan “must recuse” himself “as a matter of constitutional due process” because of his daughter’s work as a Democratic Party political consultant.

That role atop Authentic Campaigns has created “an actual conflict and an unacceptable appearance of impropriety,” which requires the judge to take himself off the high-profile case, Trump argues.

“Your Honor’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a direct financial interest in these proceedings by virtue of her ownership stake and leadership role at Authentic,” the April 3 filing reads. “At least six of Authentic’s clients used fundraising solicitations that referenced this case around the time of the Indictment, President Trump’s arraignment, or following the Court’s denial of President Trump’s recusal motion.”

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