A New York judge has refused, for the third time, to recuse himself from the case in which Donald Trump was convicted on charges involving paying bribes to a porn star, rejecting the former US president’s claim of a conflict of interest related to political consulting work carried out by the judge’s daughter.
As he did last April and in August 2023, Judge Juan Merchan, in a decision released this Wednesday (14), denied a request from lawyers for Trump so that he would recuse himself from the first case involving criminal charges against a former U.S. president. Merchan is expected to announce the sentence against Trump on September 18th.
“Defendant has provided nothing new for this court to consider. Counsel has merely repeated arguments that have already been denied by this court and higher courts” and that were “riddled with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated allegations,” Merchan wrote in the decision, dated Aug. 13.
Trump was found guilty by a jury on May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for covering up a $130,000 payment made by former personal attorney Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to avoid a sex scandal ahead of the 2016 U.S. election.
Two months later, her lawyers filed a third request for Merchan to step down, arguing that her daughter’s work for a political consulting firm that counts Democratic campaigns among its clients — including Kamala Harris’s unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination — posed a conflict of interest.
Kamala, now vice president, is the Democratic presidential candidate who will face the Republican candidate Trump in the November 5 US election.
Source: CNN Brasil
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