Timing the Trump Trial: Probing Trump, Cobb, Weisselberg, and Mar-a-Lago with a Deputy Attorney General
He presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial and sentenced Allen Weisselberg, a close friend of Trump, to prison.
Born in Bogota, Colombia, Merchan emigrated to the United States at the age of six and grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, according to a New York Times profile of the judge. He was the first in his family to go to college.
Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore said during an interview Friday on CNN that Merchan was “not easy” on him when he tried a case before him, but said the judge likely will be fair.
I have tried a case in front of him before. He might be tough. He will not be affected by that in this case because he knows the facts and the law.
At times, he may be compelled to appear in court. The intense pre- trial process will be hard on the legal team, making it more difficult for them to act coherently. Ahead of his appearance Tuesday, for instance, Trump made a late shuffle of his legal team, bringing in another attorney, Todd Blanche, to serve as his lead counsel – a move some saw as sidelining another attorney, Joe Tacopina. The ex-president’s camp pushed back on this interpretation, however.
And there are increasing signs that this new reality – which will come with hefty financial commitments in legal fees and locks on Trump’s calendar – could be multiplied at a time when he’s already facing the intense demands of another White House bid.
The documents case may not be the end of it. Smith is also investigating Trump’s conduct in the run-up to the US Capitol insurrection. The ex-president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election result in the swing state of Georgia may be investigated by a district attorney.
Smith’s prosecutors have secured daily notes, texts, emails and photographs and are focused on cataloguing how Trump handled classified records around Mar-a-Lago and those who may have witnessed the former president with them, CNN’s Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez reported Monday. The Justice Department is following the same rules as when an investigation ends.
The developments represent a serious turn in the case for the ex- president according to Ty Cobb, Trump’s former lawyer. “We’ve known the investigatory steps were under way, we just haven’t known alleged results until today,” Cobb said. “I think these are highly consequential.”
Trump denies any wrongdoing in the investigations. He described his behavior in Georgia as perfect. He derided the sealed indictment in New York as an example of politicized justice because he has more than 30 counts related to business fraud.
Trump made a big show on Monday of his return to New York ahead of his arraignment. The snaking motorcade of black Secret Service SUVs to and from his private Boeing 757 in its sparkling new livery carried overtones of a presidential movement in a power play meant to send a message of strength.
After court Tuesday, he will return to his Mar-a-Lago resort and reclaim the media spotlight with a primetime speech he will likely use to proclaim his innocence, attack the New York case as political persecution and try to distract from the fact he will be a criminal defendant.
It’s enough to have one criminal prosecution. A multi-front defence in multiple cases would represent an extraordinary storm and has not been charged in any of the other cases. That would affect the ex-president’s ability to dictate his political schedule. When he was under scrutiny in the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, or during his two impeachments, Trump exploited his huge popularity with Republican voters to discredit accusations against him. He pressured most GOP senators, who knew they would pay with their careers if they voted to convict him in an impeachment trial.
The situation is somewhat similar to the 2020 election, when the will of voters prevailed because Trump’s attempts to have votes thrown out and results changed foundered in multiple courts because of the fact-based standards of evidence and the law.
Donald Trump and the New York Supreme Court Judge: A “Tough” but “Compassionate” Juan Merchan during his 2016 campaign after winning his first presidential term
The request for broadcast cameras was turned down by the judge. Photographers will be allowed to take pictures of Trump and the courtroom before the hearing begins.
But the irony of the ex-president complaining about being the subject of a media circus was rich indeed. Without his salesman’s talent for whipping up media circuses, he’d have never have been president. Trump built a mythology in New York by constantly feeding the tabloids with his famous celebrity feuds, colorful personal life and business failures. His entire 2016 campaign and his single-term presidency were pageants of outrage, scandal and lawlessness stoked by his often unchained Twitter posts.
Donald Trump will be facing a seasoned judge in a New York courtroom when he enters on Tuesday. The acting New York Supreme Court Judge is Juan Merchan.
“Tough” but “compassionate”: Merchan showed some of his tough side when Weisselberg was sentenced, telling the former Trump associate that if he had not already promised him a five-month sentence, he would have handed him a “much greater” sentence after having listened to evidence at trial.
In 1994 he started his career in the trial division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Several years later, he moved on to the state attorney general’s office, where he worked on cases in Long Island. In 2006 and 2009, Gov. David Paterson and the Mayor of New York City appointed Merchan to Family Court and the New York State Court of Claims, respectively.