2024-04-25 09:09:05
An unwilling Donald Trump will be back in a New York courtroom on Thursday as his hush money trial resumes at the same time the US Supreme Court hears arguments in Washington on whether he should be immune from prosecution for actions he took while president.
Jurors will hear more witness testimony from a veteran tabloid publisher, and Trump faces a looming decision on whether he violated a judge-imposed gag order. But he asked to skip his criminal trial for the day so he might participate in the high court’s special session, where the justices will weigh whether he can be prosecuted over his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss. President Joe Biden.
That request was denied by New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who oversees the hearing regarding the hush money scheme it was intended to prevent damaging stories regarding Trump from emerging in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
“Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court … is also a big deal,” Merchan said last week. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche said. he rejected the idea.
Although 200 miles apart — and completely separate matters — Thursday’s proceedings were tangled into one huge legal and political puzzle that has implications not just for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but for the very fabric of the U.S. presidency.
In both cases, Trump trying to get himself out of legal jeopardy while making another bid for the White House. But the outcome of the Supreme Court case will have lasting implications for future presidents, as the justices will answer the never-before-seen question of “whether and, if so, to what extent a former president enjoys presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to have involved in official acts during his term of office.”
The high court’s decision may not affect the New York City case, which depends primarily on Trump’s performance as a presidential candidate in 2016 — not as a president. He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments intended to squelch embarrassing stories. This is the first of four criminal cases once morest Trump to go before a jury.
The New York trial resumes following a scheduled day with more testimony from the Manhattan district attorney’s first witness, David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer and a longtime friend of Trump who has promised to be his “eyes and ears.” to be during his 2016 presidential election. campaign.
In testimony earlier this week, Pecker explained how he and the tabloid gossip-mongered in brand new stories smearing Trump’s opponents and, just as crucially, used his connections to suppress nasty stories regarding Trump, including a pornographic actor’s allegation of an extramarital sexual encounter years earlier.
Pecker traced the origins of their relationship to a 1980s meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and said the friendship blossomed along with the success of the real estate developer’s TV show “The Apprentice” and the show’s subsequent celebrity version. .
Pecker recounted how he promised then-candidate Trump that he would help suppress damaging stories and even arranged to buy the silence of a doorman.
“I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment it would cause to the campaign and to Mr. Trump,” Pecker said of the doorman’s story, which his publication later determined was untrue.
Judge Merchan can also decide whether to hold Trump in contempt and fine him for violating an oral order barring the GOP leader from making public statements regarding witnesses, jurors and others related to the case .
This brings the case closer to opening statements.
Some of Trump’s recent online posts at issue included one that described impeachment witnesses Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, and Stormy Daniels, the porn actress, as “sleeze bags” and another that repeated a false claim that liberals activists tried to infiltrate the jury.
Merchan criticized Blanche this week for excusing the posts because Trump was simply responding to political attacks and commenting on his experience with the criminal justice system.
“When your client violates the gag order, I expect more than one word,” Merchan said.
A guilty verdict by the jury in the hush money investigation would not prevent Trump from running for president once more, but because it is a state case, he would not be able to pardon himself if convicted. The charge is punishable by up to four years in prison – although it is not clear whether the judge would seek to put him behind bars.
The Supreme Court is moving faster than usual to take up the case, but not as quickly as special counsel Jack Smith wanted, raising questions regarding whether there will be time to hold a hearing before the November election. hold, if the judges agree with lower courts. Trump can be impeached.
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