The Weekend Wrap: April 14, 2024

Another day, another motion to delay

Welcome to the Weekend Wrap! Here are the week’s white collar highlights:

Trump Prosecutions

New York State Case - Hush Money/False Business Records

While they should have been preparing for trial, Trump’s attorneys spent much of the week pursuing more fruitless efforts to delay the case.

On Monday they sought a stay of the case pending their appeal of a motion to transfer the trial to a different venue. That motion is based on a claim that Manhattan jurors will be hopelessly biased against Trump. A court of appeals judge promptly denied that motion after a brief hearing.

Then they sought to have the case stayed pending the outcome of their appeal of the gag order entered by Judge Merchan, arguing that Trump’s First Amendment rights to speak about the trial were being unjustly infringed. A different court of appeals judge denied that emergency motion on Tuesday. (A five judge appeals panel is set to consider on Monday whether to grant such a stay pending the outcome of the gag order appeal. That seems unlikely.)

Wednesday’s effort was a motion to stay the trial while Trump pursues an appeal of his claim that Judge Merchan needs to be disqualified from the case, along with other pretrial rulings. Yet another appeals court judge shot that down the same day.

There were no new motions to delay on Thursday or Friday, suggesting Trump’s attorneys may have run out of ideas. It looks like jury selection will begin tomorrow. Assuming the trial actually goes forward, I plan to publish a post on Monday summarizing the facts, the charges, what we may see at the trial, and the potential legal pitfalls.

Former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg (credit: Reuters/Carlo Allegri)

Weisselberg sentenced: The former long-time CFO of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, was sentenced to five months in prison for perjury. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to lying about his role in over-valuing Trump properties during the civil fraud case brought against Trump and his company by the New York Attorney General. He has already served an earlier sentence of several months after he was convicted, along with the Trump Organization, of New York criminal tax fraud. He will serve his sentence at Rikers Island.

Weisselberg could be called as a witness in Trump’s criminal trial, either by the government or by the defense.

Florida Federal Case - Mar-a-Lago Documents

On February 6 Judge Cannon issued an order that would have unsealed the names of about two dozen government witnesses. Special Counsel Jack Smith quickly filed a motion urging her to reconsider, arguing that revealing the names would subject the witnesses to harassment and put them in danger. He said she had applied the wrong legal standard, and that her ruling was “clear error” that would result in “manifest injustice.” The clear implication was that if she did not reconsider, Smith would appeal her order to the 11th Circuit - which might also give him an opportunity to ask that court to remove Cannon from the case.