A Daily Caller News Foundation reporter recounted “absurd moments” during the business documents trial of former President Donald Trump in a Tuesday appearance on “America First with Sebastian Gorka.”
A Manhattan jury of seven men and five women convicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records on May 30 after less than 12 hours of deliberations. DCNF Supreme Court Reporter Katelynn Richardson discussed the conduct of New York Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, with Salem News Channel host Sebastian Gorka, who asked about her observations from the three weeks she covered the trial in New York City. (RELATED: JD Vance Explains ‘Sham’ Prosecution Of Donald Trump As Wolf Blitzer Tries To Interrupt)
“There’s this one moment… that kind of just crystallized it for me, where the jury had been excused, it’s a final argumentation on the charges between the defense and the prosecution, all of the requests by the prosecution were accepted by Judge Merchan, one was provisionally accepted from the defense and at one point, the president’s attorney was going to stand up to address the judge, and he says in front of us, because we’re there as witnesses, he says ‘Sit down, I don’t wanna hear from you,’ to the defense attorney. Give… give us your impression over the three weeks you were there, Katelynn,” Gorka said.
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“There were a lot of absurd moments, particularly when Stormy Daniels took the stand and [you] know, went off, giving a variety of details about her alleged encounter with Trump that really had nothing to do with the charges in the case,” Richardson responded. “And then you had the defense step up, motion for a mistrial and as you were just referencing, Judge Merchan made a lot of rulings during this case that were much more favorable to the prosecution, that being one of them, that when that mistrial motion was made, he basically just told the defense, ‘You should have objected more’ and disregarding a lot of the due process issues that came up through that and at many other points in… in the trial.”
Merchan came under fire over a perceived bias against the former president over his handling of the business records case. He made a $15 donation to Biden’s presidential campaign and two $10 donations through the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue in 2020, one to a group called “Stop Republicans” and one to a “Progressive Turnout Project,” according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.
Merchan also imposed an expanded gag order on April 1 after Trump criticized the judge’s daughter, Loren, in multiple posts on Truth Social. One post by Trump linked to a New York Post report on how Loren Merchan’s firm helped Democrats raise at least $93 million off the former president’s indictment in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (RELATED: Alan Dershowitz Doubts Conviction Will Be Overturned Because Appellate Judges Are ‘Terrified’ To Help Trump)
Gorka also discussed Tuesday’s conviction of Hunter Biden on three felony gun charges with Richardson, asking her what she expected attorneys for the son of President Joe Biden to do.
“Well, it’s not surprising that they do want to appeal this case,” Richardson told Gorka. “They were pushing for weeks before the trial to delay it. They filed a number of motions to dismiss, including one which will be interesting to watch going forward on a Second Amendment issue at the heart of this case, which is something potentially that could ultimately end up at the Supreme Court, whether or not this charge, the third charge for in possessing a gun as an addict, is viable under the Second Amendment.”
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