Trump loses third bid for judge to step aside in hush money case
NEW YORK — A New York judge declined for a third time to step aside from the case in which Donald Trump was convicted of charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, dismissing the former U.S. president’s claim of conflict of interest related to political consultancy work by the judge’s daughter.
As he did in April and in August 2023, Justice Juan Merchan in a decision released on Wednesday denied a request by Trump’s lawyers that he recuse himself from the first case involving criminal charges against a former U.S. president. Merchan is scheduled to sentence Trump on Sept. 18.
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“Defendant has provided nothing new for this Court to consider. Counsel has merely repeated arguments that have already been denied by this and higher courts” and were “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims,” Merchan wrote in the ruling, dated Aug. 13.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
“The Highly Conflicted Judge should have long ago recused himself from this case,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Trump was found guilty by a jury on May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for having covered up former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 U.S. election.
Two months later, his lawyers made their third request that Merchan step aside, arguing that his daughter’s work for a political consultancy that has counted Democratic campaigns among its clients – including the unsuccessful bid by Kamala Harris for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination – posed a conflict of interest.
Harris, now vice president, is the Democratic presidential candidate facing Republican nominee Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
Falsifying business records is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison, though sentences such as fines or probation have been more common for others convicted of that crime.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which brought the charges, had called Trump’s recusal request a “frivolous” attempt to relitigate an issue that was resolved twice before.
