New York state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan elaborated on his decision to deny Donald Trump’s pretrial motion to dismiss the Manhattan District Attorney’s hush money case — first announced at the Thursday hearing — in a lengthy order dense with legal citations and little color — a stark contrast to state civil Judge Arthur Engoron’s style of railing against Trump in colorful language throughout his civil fraud trial.
— first announced at the Thursday hearing — in a lengthy order dense with legal citations and little color — a stark contrast to state civil Judge Arthur Engoron’s style of railing against Trump in colorful language throughout his civil fraud trial.
In addition to denying the motion to dismiss, Merchan also denied Trump’s request to hold a hearing to investigate the former president’s claims that he’s being selectively prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and about media leaks during the grand jury proceedings ahead of the 34-count indictment.
“Defendant merely advances an uncorroborated claim that his political aspirations have been prejudiced — but he does not explain how or why. In fact, this claim runs contrary to defendant’s repeated assertions that his political campaign for President of the United States has actually been bolstered by the criminal charges,” Merchan wrote.
The judge knocked Trump’s claims that the Manhattan district attorney targeted him but ignored Hillary Clinton’s allegedly improper recording of campaign expenses as legal payments to hire a research firm to the prepare the “Steele Dossier.”
Merchan also declined to winnow down the charges against Trump to reflect only one count for each of the 11 Michael Cohen reimbursement invoices.