The Weekend Wrap: April 7, 2024

A Trump Trial Looms in NY, and Smith Challenges Cannon in FL

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

Trump Prosecutions

New York State Case - Hush Money/False Business Records

Trial Date: Trump’s attorneys are doing everything they can to delay the trial, set to begin a week from tomorrow. It’s not working.

The attorneys sought permission to file a new motion to have Judge Merchan recused based on his daughter’s work for a Democratic consulting firm. The judge already rejected an earlier request after the court’s ethics official advised him there were no grounds for recusal; political activities of a family member are not a basis to question a judge’s impartiality. Nothing has materially changed that would cause the judge to reconsider. He said they could file their motion, but this should go nowhere.

Trump’s attorneys also filed a new motion to postpone the case indefinitely, based on allegedly prejudicial pretrial publicity. Again, the judge has already rejected an earlier, similar request. In his response the DA got a little spicy, saying the court “should deny defendant's eighth request to adjourn the start of this trial.” Prosecutors argued there is no indication that pretrial publicity will recede any time soon, and that voir dire can effectively screen out any jurors who may have been affected. They also noted that Trump has generated much of the publicity through his own vitriolic comments on the case and it would be perverse to reward his repeated attacks by granting him a delay.

Trump’s attorneys also asked the judge to delay the trial until the Supreme Court decides the question of presidential immunity. They aren’t arguing this case must be dismissed based on immunity; the charges here are based primarily on actions Trump took before he was president. But they are claiming that some of the government’s proposed evidence, such as statements Trump made about the case while he was president, should be excluded based on presidential immunity. Reporter Adam Klasfeld shared this example:

The judge denied this motion as untimely, stating that Trump’s attorneys missed the deadline for such a motion and could have filed it months ago.

It’s pretty clear Judge Merchan intends for this trial to begin on April 15 as scheduled. At this point there isn’t much that could stop that from happening. But there was a mild earthquake in New York on Friday, which prompted this from one commentator:

She really shouldn’t give him any ideas.

Gag Order: We discussed last week how the gag order imposed by Judge Merchan did not appear to prohibit attacks on family members of the judge or the DA. Trump promptly drove a truck through that loophole by unleashing several attacks on the judge’s daughter, who works at a consulting firm that works with Democratic politicians.