Dr. Maurizio Miglietta, a surgery professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been indicted on charges including first-degree rape and attempted first-degree rape.
Photo by Linkedin
A surgery professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harlem has been accused of allegedly raping a woman in his apartment after showing her a firearm, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday.
Dr. Maurizio Miglietta, 56, who also serves as an honorary police surgeon providing trauma consultation for the NYPD, was indicted Tuesday on charges including first-degree rape and attempted first-degree rape, according to court filings. He faces additional charges, including sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors allege that Miglietta met a 28-year-old woman through a medical networking event. On June 5, she went to his Financial District apartment expecting to discuss business ventures.
Once inside, Miglietta allegedly kissed her without consent. When she tried to push him away, he allegedly lifted his shirt to show a firearm he said was loaded.
Manhattan DA Alvin BraggPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
The indictment alleges he placed the gun on a coffee table near her head before orally raping her and attempting to vaginally rape her. The woman was able to leave after initially being prevented from doing so, prosecutors said.
“As alleged, this prominent doctor used his position to lure a woman to his apartment under the guise of professional networking and mentorship,” Bragg said. “Instead, he allegedly displayed a firearm that he said was loaded, and sexually assaulted her as she repeatedly said no.”
Migiletta was arrested on Monday, Oct. 13, and arraigned before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ann Thompson on Oct. 14.
The court executed a warrant, issued a discovery scheduling order, and placed a temporary order of protection for the alleged victim. Bail was set at $1 million cash, $3 million insured bond, or $3 million partially secured surety bond. He is scheduled to return to court in January.
Bragg said the investigation is ongoing and urged anyone with information about similar incidents to contact the DA’s Special Victims Division at 212-335-9373.
amNewYork did not receive a response from Miglietta’s attorney or Touro College, where he had been working for the past 14 years, at the time of publication.
Case type: Civil Where: New York Supreme Court Attorney: Roberta Kaplan Status: Trump was found liable for battery and defamation in May 2023 and was found liable in a second defamation trial in January 2024.
In a 2019 New York cover story, writer E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. After Trump accused her of lying, Carroll, represented by Roberta Kaplan, sued him fordefamation. Then she sued for damages over the alleged assault, taking advantage of a recent New York law that extends the statute of limitations for adult survivors of sexual abuse. The trial began in April 2023, and on May 9, a jury ruled that Trump was liable for sexual assault and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages.
A second defamation trial began in federal court in New York on January 15, 2024, and lasted a week, with Carroll testifying that Trump destroyed her reputation after she accused him of assault. A jury found Trump liable for defamation after three hours of deliberation, ordering him to pay Carroll an additional $83.3 million in damages. Trump and his legal team have vowed to appeal both verdicts.
In the end, it was Manhattan’s plodding and plainspoken district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who proved the pundits wrong and delivered what all the big-talking power brokers could not: the criminal conviction of ex-president Donald Trump for the corrupt and illegal business practices that helped him win the 2016 race for president.
Bragg does not swagger into a room the way so many New York lawyers and politicians do. He does not preen, pose, shout, or boast. Even when traveling with an armed security detail, he tends to arrive quietly, with the friendly, open and approachable style of a Sunday school teacher, which Bragg has been for years.
It is typical for New York’s men of power to huddle in dark bars and boozy back rooms, swapping gossip, cutting deals, and sipping booze. You’re more likely to find Bragg in Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church chatting about values, scripture, and how to make one’s way in the world with honesty and integrity. That, alone, makes him a different kind of fish in the shark tank of New York politics, which is stocked with bullies, boasters, bluster, and bullshit.
“This type of white collar prosecution is core to what we do at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office,” Bragg said after the conviction, repeating almost word for word what he’d said last April after Trump’s indictment and arrest. He was telling the truth: An investigation by NBC News showed that during Bragg’s first 15 months as DA, the office charged 166 felony counts for falsifying business records against 34 different people or corporations. As Bragg put it: “While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial, and ultimately today at this verdict, in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors — by following the facts and the law, and doing so without fear or favor.”
Fear and favor have been floating around People v. Trump from the start. The defendant himself, a former president of the United States who instigated the January 6 riot at the Capitol, publicly predicted that “death and destruction” would be the result of his being tried on criminal charges by Bragg. That didn’t happen, even when Trump posted the word “PROTEST” on social media and only a handful of people turned out. But Bragg did receive at least 89 death threats, including a note that said “Alvin — I’ll kill you,” included with a package containing a suspicious white powder. Another ominous note read: “Remember we are everywhere and we have guns.”
In addition to dodging pro-Trump death threats, Bragg had to fend off attacks from men like Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, two seasoned prosecutors brought in as special assistant district attorneys by Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance. Dunne and Pomerantz quit the D.A.’s office when, shortly after taking office, Bragg refused to bring sweeping racketeering charges against the Trump Organization.
“I believe that your decision not to prosecute Donald Trump now, and on the existing record, is misguided and completely contrary to the public interest. I therefore cannot continue in my current position,” Pomerantz wrote in a resignation letter. “I have worked too hard as a lawyer, and for too long, now to become a passive participant in what I believe to be a grave failure of justice.” Pomerantz went on to write a self-aggrandizing book attacking Bragg and disparaging the case against Trump as “the legal equivalent of a plane crash” due to “pilot error.”
In legal terms, many attorneys, including my friend Elie Honig, were bothered by Bragg’s use of New York’s clunky two-step law that makes it a felony to file false business records. Trump has been convicted of using false records — disguising his hush-money payments as a “legal fee” paid to his fixer/lawyer Michael Cohen — with the intent of concealing or advancing additional crimes. The quirk under New York law is that those additional crimes do not need to be proved or even specified. We don’t know whether the jurors believed Trump intended to violate campaign finance laws, tax laws, or some other statute.
The legal objections were accompanied by complaints from the pundit class that condemned Bragg for bringing a case that they called trivial or a distraction; the critics included Jonathan Chait, Peggy Noonan, Richard Hasen and Van Jones. The main complaint seemed to be that falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to a porn star was small potatoes compared to sweeping charges of election fraud in Georgia or the mishandling of top secret documents in Florida.
“The players in the drama aren’t people of import who stand for big things, they’re not fate-of-the-republic people, they don’t have any size. They’re tacky lowlifes doing tacky lowlife things,” Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “The case involves a questionable legal theory that depends on the testimony of Michael Cohen, who is half-mad in his own right.”
Fair enough. But Ron Kuby, a well-known left-leaning attorney, pointed out in the Daily News that the tackiness of the witnesses and the complexity of the law do not constitute a valid defense. “It is true that the application of these laws has never been used to criminalize attempted campaign finance violations, but that is because most candidates for president keep better books,” Kuby wrote earlier this year. “It is no more novel than arresting a presidential candidate for DWI; it has never happened before but the law is unambiguous.”
That sounds about right to me: if Trump or any other candidate was charged with driving while intoxicated, few people would say the matter should be ignored. Bragg, operating at the steady, methodical pace of the courts, stood up for the principle that using business records to hide additional crimes should not be ignored or dismissed for Trump or anybody else. And he convinced a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the former president violated the law.
Bragg now gets the last laugh against his critics in the legal profession. Pomerantz got a book contract and made money; Bragg got a conviction and made history. And politically, he has made more of the dent in Trump’s attempted comeback than any of the louder, flashier Democrats that frequent the cable news shows, liberal think tanks, and the big-donor speaking circuit. It almost reads like the kind of lesson from scripture that gets taught in Sunday school: that sometimes, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong
Speaking from the White House on Friday, President Biden criticized former President Donald Trump’s response to his conviction in New York. Trump has claimed the trial was “unfair” and “rigged.” Robert Costa has more.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
NEW YORK – A day after a New York jury delivered a historic guilty verdict in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will likely look to cast the conviction and his campaign in a new light.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. The hush money trial and subsequent conviction mark the first time a former U.S. president has ever been tried or convicted in a criminal case.
He still faces three other felony indictments, but the New York case was the first to reach trial and likely the only one ahead of the November election.
Judge Juan M. Merchan scheduled Trump’s sentencing for July 11. The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison, though the punishment would ultimately be up to Merchan. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether prosecutors would seek prison time.
Dozens of reporters and TV news crews are huddled in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan ahead of the former president’s planned postconviction remarks at 11 a.m.
It’s the same very 1980s brass-and-rose marble lobby where Donald Trump descended his golden escalator to announce his 2016 campaign nine years ago next month.
Five American flags have been set behind a small lectern where he’ll speak.
TRUMP’S CONVICTION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE 2024 ELECTION
Donald Trump’s conviction in his New York hush money trial is a stunning development in an already unorthodox presidential election with profound implications for the justice system and perhaps U.S. democracy itself.
But in a deeply divided America, it’s unclear whether Trump’s status as someone with a felony conviction will have any impact at all on the 2024 election.
Trump remains in a competitive position against President Joe Biden this fall, even as the Republican former president now faces the prospect of a prison sentence in the run-up to the November election.
In the short term at least, there were immediate signs that the unanimous guilty verdict was helping to unify the Republican Party’s disparate factions as GOP officials in Congress and in state capitals across the country rallied behind their presumptive presidential nominee, while his campaign expected to benefit from a flood of new fundraising dollars.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS RALLIED TO TRUMP’S DEFENSE
Several Republican lawmakers reacted with fury to Donald Trump’s felony conviction on Thursday and rushed to his defense — questioning the legitimacy of the trial and how it was conducted.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was a “shameful day in American history” and labeled the charges as “purely political.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been one of Trump’s most frequent allies, said, “This verdict says more about the system than the allegations.”
And while Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell refrained from attacking the judge or jury, he said the charges “never should have been brought in the first place.”
Donald Trump may have been convicted of a felony and reside in Florida, a state notorious for restricting the voting rights of felons, but he can still vote as long as he stays out of prison in New York state.
That’s because Florida defers to other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. In Trump’s case, New York law only removes their right to vote when incarcerated. Once they’re out of prison, their rights are automatically restored — even if they’re on parole, per a 2021 law passed by the state’s Democratic legislature.
“If a Floridian’s voting rights are restored in the state of conviction, they are restored under Florida law,” Blair Bowie of the Campaign Legal Center wrote in a post explaining the state of law, noting that people without Trump’s legal resources are often confused by Florida’s complex rules.
THE FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER
Donald Trump’s conviction Thursday on 34 felony counts marked the end of the former president’s historic hush money trial.
Now comes the sentencing and the prospect of a prison sentence. A lengthy appellate process could follow, especially as Trump’s legal team has already been laying the groundwork for an appeal.
And all the while, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still faces three more criminal cases and a campaign that could see him return to the White House.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
NEW YORK – History happened just as everyone was about to leave for the day.
Judge Juan M. Merchan had already summoned Donald Trump, his legal team and prosecutors into the courtroom where the former president has been on trial since mid-April. The judge said he planned to send the jury home in a few minutes — at 4:30 p.m. — with deliberations to resume the next morning.
Trump looked upbeat, having animated chats with his lawyers. A bell that rang in the courtroom whenever the jury had something to tell the court had been silent all day.
In the end, it wasn’t the bell that signaled something was up, but the jingling of a court officer’s keys — a ring full of them clanking as Maj. Michael McKee hustled past the judge’s bench and out a door into a private corridor.
Then, unexpectedly, the judge was back on the bench. There was another note from the jury, signed at 4:20 p.m. Merchan read it aloud.
“We the jury have reached a verdict,” it said, and asked for an extra 30 minutes to fill out the verdict form.
The “hurry up and wait” beat of deliberations gave way to anticipatory tension.
“I’m sure you will hear from the sergeant and the major and everyone else, but please let there be no outbursts of any kind when we take a verdict,” Merchan warned everyone in the courtroom. “I’ll be back out in a few minutes.”
As the minutes ticked by, defense lawyer Todd Blanche whispered to Trump, who was stone-faced, arms crossed across his chest. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the case, entered the courtroom and sat with aides in the gallery.
The courtroom was packed with people, among them dozens of reporters, sketch artists, members of the public and Trump’s son Eric. Bragg staffers crammed into the back row of the audience. Court personnel lined the wall next to the judge’s bench. Just two seats were unclaimed, occupied by a Van Gogh sunflower seat cushion and a newspaper that someone had not returned to claim.
Just before 5 p.m., the judge returned to the bench. He reread the portentous note and instructed court officers to bring the jury into the courtroom.
The six alternate jurors, who sat through the testimony but weren’t part of deliberations, were brought into the courtroom and seated in the first row of the audience.
The 12 jurors followed. Most looked straight ahead as they walked past Trump.
About a dozen court officers filled the room.
Then, the moment came. The courtroom was silent.
“How say you to the first count of the indictment, charging Donald J. Trump with falsifying business records in the first degree?” a court staffer asked. “Guilty,” the foreperson, whose name has not been publicly released, said in a steady voice.
The same answer, “guilty,” came again and again. Trump was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying records at his company as part of a broad scheme to cover up payments made to a porn actor during the 2016 election.
As the verdict was read, and dozens of reporters transmitted the news to editors, wireless internet service in the courtroom suddenly became sluggish.
Monitors in another courtroom where more reporters were watching the proceedings on a closed-circuit television feed were turned off as the verdict was read, so members of the media and public who were there to observe could not see Trump’s face as the first “guilty” was read aloud, but a hushed gasp could be heard.
The video feed resumed after the last charge was read aloud, showing Trump sitting with an expressionless stare.
Trump began slowly looking around the room and glanced, still expressionless, at jurors as they affirmed they found him guilty on all counts.
Blanche rested his face in his hands and furrowed his brow.
Merchan thanked the jury for its work, something common at the end of any trial.
“You were engaged in a very stressful and difficult task,” he said, adding that the weeks of the trial were “a long time to be away from your jobs, your families, all of your responsibilities.”
The jury was then excused. Trump stood as jurors filtered out of the courtroom, appearing to be looking at them one by one as they passed in front of him.
In the hallway outside the 15th-floor courtroom, cheering could be heard from the street below, where a small group of Trump supporters and detractors had gathered.
As the former president and presumptive Republican nominee walked out of the courtroom, Eric Trump put a hand on his back.
Then, after watching mum as the verdict came, Donald Trump turned to the news cameras awaiting him in the hallway.
“I’m a very innocent man,” he said, before vowing to keep contesting a case he has repeatedly called “a disgrace.”
“We’ll fight to the end, and we’ll win,” he said.
His sentencing is scheduled for July 11, likely in the same courtroom where history was made Thursday.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
[ad_2]
Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Michelle Price And Jill Colvin, Associated Press
A jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 criminal counts Thursday in his New York “hush money” trial. CBS News reporter Graham Kates describes what the courtroom was like when jurors read the verdict.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial shifts to opening statements Monday, followed by the start of witness testimony. A jury of seven men and five women, plus six alternates, was picked last week.
The trial centers on allegations the former president falsified his company’s internal records to obscure the true nature of reimbursement payments to his former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged hush money payments to bury negative stories about him during his 2016 presidential race.
The witnesses include a porn actor, a former tabloid publisher and Cohen, who went to federal prison for his role in the hush money matter and for other crimes, including lying to Congress. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass forewarned prospective jurors that they have “what you might consider to be some baggage.”
Here’s a look at the key players in the historic first criminal trial of a former U.S. president:
DEFENDANT
DONALD TRUMP — The former president of the United States and the presumptive Republican nominee, who parlayed his success as reality television star and celebrity businessman and won the presidential election in 2016, becoming America’s 45th president. The trial involves allegations that he falsified his company’s records to hide the true nature of payments to Cohen, who helped bury negative stories about him during the 2016 presidential campaign. He’s pleaded not guilty.
WITNESSES
MICHAEL COHEN — Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. He was once a fierce Trump ally, but now he’s a key prosecution witness against his former boss. Cohen worked for the Trump Organization from 2006 to 2017. He later went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations relating to the hush money arrangements and other, unrelated crimes.
STORMY DANIELS — The porn actor who received a $130,000 payment from Cohen as part of his hush-money efforts. Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about what she says was a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
KAREN MCDOUGAL — A former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. She was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship. Trump denies having sex with McDougal.
DAVID PECKER — The National Enquirer’s former publisher and a longtime Trump friend. Prosecutors say he met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower in August 2015 and agreed to help Trump’s campaign identify negative stories about him.
HOPE HICKS — Trump’s former White House communications director. Prosecutors say she spoke with Trump by phone during a frenzied effort to keep allegations of his marital infidelity out of the press after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape leaked weeks before the 2016 election. In the tape, from 2005, Trump boasted about grabbing women without permission.
PROSECUTORS
ALVIN BRAGG — A former civil rights lawyer and law professor, Bragg is a Democrat in his first term as Manhattan’s district attorney. He inherited the Trump investigation when he took office in 2021. He oversaw the prosecution of Trump’s company in an unrelated tax fraud case before moving to indict Trump last year.
MATTHEW COLANGELO — A former high-ranking Justice Department official who was hired by Bragg in 2022 to lead the Trump investigation. They previously worked together on Trump-related matters at the New York attorney general’s office.
JOSHUA STEINGLASS — A Manhattan prosecutor for more than 25 years, he has worked on some of the office’s more high-profile cases, including the Trump Organization’s tax fraud conviction in 2022, and cases involving violent crimes.
SUSAN HOFFINGER — The chief of the district attorney’s Investigation Division, she returned to the office in 2022 after more than 20 years in private practice with her sister, Fran. She worked with Steinglass on the Trump Organization tax fraud prosecution.
TRUMP’S LAWYERS
TODD BLANCHE — A former federal prosecutor, Blanche previously represented Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in a mortgage fraud case — and got it thrown out. Blanche successfully argued that the case, brought by the same prosecutor’s office now taking on Trump, was too similar to one that landed Manafort in federal prison and therefore amounted to double jeopardy.
SUSAN NECHELES — A former Brooklyn prosecutor, Necheles is a respected New York City defense lawyer who represented Trump’s company at its tax fraud trial last year. In the past she served as counsel to the late Genovese crime family underboss Venero Mangano, known as Benny Eggs, and defended John Gotti’s lawyer, Bruce Cutler, in the early 90s.
EMIL BOVE — A star college lacrosse player, Bove was a veteran federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. He was involved in multiple high-profile prosecutions, including a drug-trafficking case against the former Honduran president’s brother, a man who set off a pressure cooker device in Manhattan and a man who sent dozens of mail bombs to prominent targets across the country.
THE JUDGE
JUAN M. MERCHAN — The judge presiding over the case. He was also the judge in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial in 2022 and is overseeing a border wall fraud case against longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon. Merchan has twice denied requests by Trump’s lawyers that he step aside from the case. They contend he is biased because his daughter runs a political consulting firm that has worked for Democrats, including President Joe Biden. Merchan has said he is certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial.”
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial shifts to opening statements Monday, followed by the start of witness testimony. A jury of seven men and five women, plus six alternates, was picked last week.
The trial centers on allegations the former president falsified his company’s internal records to obscure the true nature of reimbursement payments to his former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged hush money payments to bury negative stories about him during his 2016 presidential race.
The witnesses include a porn actor, a former tabloid publisher and Cohen, who went to federal prison for his role in the hush money matter and for other crimes, including lying to Congress. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass forewarned prospective jurors that they have “what you might consider to be some baggage.”
Here’s a look at the key players in the historic first criminal trial of a former U.S. president:
DEFENDANT
DONALD TRUMP — The former president of the United States and the presumptive Republican nominee, who parlayed his success as reality television star and celebrity businessman and won the presidential election in 2016, becoming America’s 45th president. The trial involves allegations that he falsified his company’s records to hide the true nature of payments to Cohen, who helped bury negative stories about him during the 2016 presidential campaign. He’s pleaded not guilty.
WITNESSES
MICHAEL COHEN — Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. He was once a fierce Trump ally, but now he’s a key prosecution witness against his former boss. Cohen worked for the Trump Organization from 2006 to 2017. He later went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations relating to the hush money arrangements and other, unrelated crimes.
STORMY DANIELS — The porn actor who received a $130,000 payment from Cohen as part of his hush-money efforts. Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about what she says was a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
KAREN MCDOUGAL — A former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. She was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship. Trump denies having sex with McDougal.
DAVID PECKER — The National Enquirer’s former publisher and a longtime Trump friend. Prosecutors say he met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower in August 2015 and agreed to help Trump’s campaign identify negative stories about him.
HOPE HICKS — Trump’s former White House communications director. Prosecutors say she spoke with Trump by phone during a frenzied effort to keep allegations of his marital infidelity out of the press after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape leaked weeks before the 2016 election. In the tape, from 2005, Trump boasted about grabbing women without permission.
PROSECUTORS
ALVIN BRAGG — A former civil rights lawyer and law professor, Bragg is a Democrat in his first term as Manhattan’s district attorney. He inherited the Trump investigation when he took office in 2021. He oversaw the prosecution of Trump’s company in an unrelated tax fraud case before moving to indict Trump last year.
MATTHEW COLANGELO — A former high-ranking Justice Department official who was hired by Bragg in 2022 to lead the Trump investigation. They previously worked together on Trump-related matters at the New York attorney general’s office.
JOSHUA STEINGLASS — A Manhattan prosecutor for more than 25 years, he has worked on some of the office’s more high-profile cases, including the Trump Organization’s tax fraud conviction in 2022, and cases involving violent crimes.
SUSAN HOFFINGER — The chief of the district attorney’s Investigation Division, she returned to the office in 2022 after more than 20 years in private practice with her sister, Fran. She worked with Steinglass on the Trump Organization tax fraud prosecution.
TRUMP’S LAWYERS
TODD BLANCHE — A former federal prosecutor, Blanche previously represented Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in a mortgage fraud case — and got it thrown out. Blanche successfully argued that the case, brought by the same prosecutor’s office now taking on Trump, was too similar to one that landed Manafort in federal prison and therefore amounted to double jeopardy.
SUSAN NECHELES — A former Brooklyn prosecutor, Necheles is a respected New York City defense lawyer who represented Trump’s company at its tax fraud trial last year. In the past she served as counsel to the late Genovese crime family underboss Venero Mangano, known as Benny Eggs, and defended John Gotti’s lawyer, Bruce Cutler, in the early 90s.
EMIL BOVE — A star college lacrosse player, Bove was a veteran federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. He was involved in multiple high-profile prosecutions, including a drug-trafficking case against the former Honduran president’s brother, a man who set off a pressure cooker device in Manhattan and a man who sent dozens of mail bombs to prominent targets across the country.
THE JUDGE
JUAN M. MERCHAN — The judge presiding over the case. He was also the judge in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial in 2022 and is overseeing a border wall fraud case against longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon. Merchan has twice denied requests by Trump’s lawyers that he step aside from the case. They contend he is biased because his daughter runs a political consulting firm that has worked for Democrats, including President Joe Biden. Merchan has said he is certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial.”
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Donald Trump’s alleged ‘hush money’ case began this week carried out by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, but Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett is calling BS.
Jarrett says the former president is being held to a completely different standard due to the fact that Hillary Clinton did ‘pretty much the same thing” but was not dragged into court over it.
Clinton was never put on trial for her campaign paying for the now discredited Steele Dossier, that supposedly showed Trump colluding with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Gregg Jarrett: “I’ve never seen such a tangled, tortuous prosecution that would be brought against no other person except Trump.” pic.twitter.com/EPu7Ts7e46
On Monday Trump sat in court for allegedly paying porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000. The payment was allegedly part of a confidentiality agreement during the 2016 election.
But Hillary Clinton never went to court.
“Hillary Clinton did pretty much the same thing,” Jarrett told on ‘Fox and Friends.’ “She, too, used a lawyer to secretly pay for the phony Steele Dossier and booking it as legal expenses. She was fined by the FEC, but she wasn’t prosecuted and neither was Barack Obama, even though he was fined a whopping $375,000 for hiding donors and keeping illegal contributions.”
“But, if your last name is Trump, the standard of justice is completely different and turned on its head,” Jarrett added.
Excellent point from Turley here. When DNC/Hillary Clinton lied about the 2016 campaign funding of the Steele Dossier, there were no criminal charges or media calls for accountability. But the Trump NDA gets charged?? Rule of law destroyed. https://t.co/t4euA7XjCQ via @nypost
Jarrett also said the judge in Trump’s case was guilty of their own double standards, overseeing a “tangled, torturous prosecution.”
“[Bragg] had to attach it to a supposed election law violation, well it’s not,” Jarrett said of Trump’s case. “Federal Election Commission investigated, and they said this is perfectly legal. It is not a campaign donation.”
“The DOJ concluded there is no crime here,” he added. “But, you know, enter Alvin Bragg who is charging under federal law even though he is a local prosecutor and has no jurisdiction and authority to do that. But the judge is letting him get away with it.”
Maybe it’s not too late for Donald Trump to change his last name to Clinton or Biden.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust. The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
Donald Trump’s first and potentially only criminal trial before Election Day has begun. He’s returned to his former hometown to be tried by a jury of his peers in Manhattan that will determine whether he broke the law by paying, and subsequently disguising, hush money to Stormy Daniels to protect his reputation in the closing days of the 2016 election. The first-ever such trial for a former president, Trump could be sent to prison if convicted. (Judge Juan Merchan could jail him in the meantime for contempt of court, such as repeatedly violating a gag order.) The stakes could not be higher for the 77-year-old defendant or the country, which faces the possibility that he will end up behind bars or back in the White House or both. Below, our recap of the trial, which we’ll update daily with all the important developments and drama. (And here are the key people involved in the trial.)
On the first day of the trial, Judge Merchan worked to hammer down what would and wouldn’t be allowed in the court proceedings moving forward. Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office sought a fine against Trump over a social-media post that called potential witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels “sleaze bags.” On his way into the courtroom, Trump railed against the trial, but he dozed off in his chair. And the jury-selection process got underway, but just barely.
Trump arrived at the courthouse in his motorcade around 9 a.m., stopping in the hallway outside of the courtroom to address reporters. He reiterated his claims that the case against him is unfair and politically motivated, calling it “political persecution” and “an assault on America.”
Trump arrives at court in lower Manhattan on Monday. Photo: Mark Peterson
Judge Merchan denied a motion from Trump’s legal team that called for him to recuse himself. He said that Trump was using a “series of inferences, innuendos, and unsupported speculation” to support his recusal claim. He reiterated his earlier decision that the Access Hollywood tape could not be shown in court, deeming it too prejudicial. Prosecutors are also barred from mentioning the numerous sexual-assault allegations against Trump. However, he ruled that Karen McDougal will be allowed to testify, though the prosecution won’t be allowed to mention her claim that her alleged affair with Trump occurred while his wife, Melania, was pregnant with their son, Barron. The prosecution will also be allowed to enter evidence about the National Enquirer’s past coverage of Trump.
Prosecutors filed a motion, claiming that several of Trump’s social-media posts violated the gag order Merchan set on Trump, which bars him from commenting publicly on potential witnesses, among others — he called Daniels and Cohen “sleaze bags.” Prosecutors are seeking a $1,000 fine per post.
The buzz of pretrial hype wasn’t enough to keep the 77-year-old awake. The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman caught Trump appearing to fall asleep at one point during the proceedings, writing, “His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.”
96 prospective jurors were brought into the courtroom to kick off the jury-selection process, but more than half were quickly sent home after stating they couldn’t be impartial or were unable to serve. By the end of the day’s proceedings, Merchan had only gotten through the questionnaires of nine jurors, and none have been selected for the final panel. The novelty of possibly sitting on this particular jury wasn’t lost on these Manhattanites, some of whom were seen craning their heads to sneak a peek at the defendant. One juror was excused owing to a potential conflict with his son’s wedding in June, prompting congratulations from Merchan. Another who listed clubbing among her hobbies was dismissed after acknowledging she had “strong opinions or firmly held beliefs” about Trump. Another potential juror said his girlfriend worked in finance but admitted that he didn’t know what she did, sparking laughter from the prosecutors. A second group of prospective jurors will get their shot on Tuesday.
Behold the dour glowerer-in-chief:
Photo: MICHAEL NAGLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
A kidnapped-Biden truck drove in circles outside court on Monday morning:
Like any other trial, this one begins with the process of selecting a jury, which could take several days. Attorneys for the defense and prosecution will question a large pool of Manhattan residents until they find 12 jurors and six alternates. Judge Merchan drafted a 42-question-long survey for prospective jurors to fill out in order to determine their impartiality. In addition to personal questions, potential jurors are asked about their media diets, whether they’ve volunteered for Trump’s campaign or attended a rally, and if they’ve ever read any books or listened to any podcasts by Michael Cohen, a key witness for prosecutors, or Mark Pomerantz, the attorney who previously worked on the DA’s investigation into Trump. It also asks whether they have been a member of several extremist groups and movements, such as the Proud Boys and antifa.
Merchan previously ruled that jurors will be anonymous and have their identities shielded from the public owing to the risk of “a likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment.” Trump, his attorneys, and prosecutors will have access to the jurors’ names and addresses.
From potential witnesses to the judge and attorneys, here’s a quick primer on the big names in the trial.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
The first former president to be charged with a crime, Trump appeared in a Manhattan courtroom last year and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege that in 2016 he personally played a role in Cohen paying Daniels $130,000 to silence her allegation that she and Trump had an affair years earlier. (He has consistently denied her allegation.) Trump is accused of breaking the law by categorizing the reimbursements to Cohen as a legal retainer; prosecutors say Cohen performed no legal services. Trump is charged for each of the records prosecutors say were bogus: checks made out to Cohen, invoices from Cohen, and accounting entries in Trump’s books.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
Although once a loyal enforcer for Trump, Cohen now calls him “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.” A key witness for the prosecution, he alleges that during the 2016 election, Trump directed him to facilitate a $130,000 payment through a shell company to Daniels in order to suppress her story that she and Trump had sex a decade earlier. He claims that Trump later reimbursed him for the payment, disguising the expense in business records as a retainer for legal services. (Cohen has also said that he played a role in the National Enquirer’s parent company, AMI, paying to “catch and kill” model Karen McDougal’s story of her own affair with Trump.)
Cohen’s credibility is expected to come under fire because of his own legal history: In 2018, he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. That same year, he was also sentenced to three years in federalprison for tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign-finance violations in connection to the payments made to Daniels and McDougal.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
Stephanie Clifford took the stage name Stormy Daniels when she began working as a stripper and kept that name when she transitioned into adult films. In 2006, according to Daniels, she met Trump in Lake Tahoe, where he was hosting a celebrity golf tournament. She alleges that he invited her to dinner in his hotel suite and, after some conversation and Daniels spanking Trump with a copy of Forbes, the two had sex.
In January 2018, after The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Cohen had paid off Daniels, she sued Trump to get out of their nondisclosure agreement. Soon after, she went on 60 Minutes, during which she detailed having sex with Trump and said she only signed the NDA out of concern for her and her family’s safety. Daniels will be allowed to testify after Judge Merchan rejected an attempt from Trump’s legal team to block her testimony.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
McDougal is a model and former Playboy Playmate of the Year who has claimed to have had a monthslong affair with Trump back in 2006, when he was newly married to his wife, Melania Trump. In 2016, McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media, Inc. in exchange for the rights to her story about the affair and for her to stay silent on the subject in the media. AMI never published her story about Trump — a move known as a “catch and kill.” McDougal went on to sue AMI in order to be freed from her contract. She and the company would later reach a settlement, allowing her to speak about her experience with Trump. She is expected to testify during the trial.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
David Pecker is the former head of American Media, Inc., the publisher of the infamous National Enquirer. A longtime friend of Trump’s, he frequently used the Enquirer to run unflattering stories about Trump’s rivals, including Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz.
Also during Pecker’s time at AMI, the company often utilized the practice of “catch and kill” — when a publication buys the rights to a potentially damaging story and suppresses the information by declining to publish it. Pecker did this to McDougal and a former doorman at Trump Tower who prosecutors allege was trying to sell a story about a supposed love child of Trump’s. Pecker also communicated with Cohen regarding Daniels’s story. He is expected to testify.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
In 2021, voters elected Democrat Alvin Bragg to be the Manhattan district attorney — the first Black person to serve in the role. Last April, Bragg announced that his office had filed felony charges against the former president, becoming the first prosecutor in the nation to indict Trump. To do so, though, Bragg used a novel legal theory to upgrade what is usually a misdemeanor (falsifying business records) to a felony by arguing that the records were changed in order to cover up another crime: in this case, violations of the state’s campaign-finance laws. Bragg’s office alleges Trump tried to hide relevant information about his alleged affair from the voting public prior to the election.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Redux
Judge Merchan is presiding over the historic trial, though it’s not his first time dealing with Trump figures. He oversaw the trial of former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg for financial fraud and tax evasion, sentencing him to five months in prison. He is also presiding over the pending trial of Steve Bannon, who is charged with fraud for allegedly bilking donors for a border-wall scheme.
Merchan immigrated to the United States with his family from Colombia when he was 6 years old, growing up in Jackson Heights. After working as a prosecutor in both the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the state attorney general’s office, he was appointed as a Family Court judge in 2006 and to the State Supreme Court three years later.
As he has done with other judges, Trump has attacked Merchan on social media, hurling insults and claiming that he is “corrupt.” Things escalated after Trump targeted Merchan’s daughter, suggesting that the judge is biased owing to his daughter’s work as a Democratic strategist. Merchan revised the gag order he placed on Trump to bar him from talking about his and Bragg’s families in addition to court staff and potential witnesses.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Merchan did not discuss specifics about the case but said that he and his staff want to be sure that they “dispense justice.”
“There’s no agenda here,” he said. “We want to follow the law. We want justice to be done.”
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
One of Trump’s closest aides as president, Hope Hicks first began working for Ivanka in the Trump Organization in 2014 before she became the Trump campaign’s press secretary in 2015. Hicks is expected to testify at the trial as a witness for the prosecution because she communicated with various figures involved in silencing Daniels, including Daniels’s then-lawyer, Keith Davidson, as well as Pecker and Dylan Howard, two AMI executives. The communications started the day after the release of the Access Hollywood tape in October 2016, which is believed to have sparked the plan to pay Daniels.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
In 2023, Trump tapped attorney Todd Blanche to lead his defense in the Manhattan case. A veteran federal prosecutor experienced in white-collar cases, Blanche left his job as a partner at the prominent law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to defend Trump. He previously represented Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Igor Fruman, an associate of Rudy Giuliani’s, in separate federal cases.
If defending Trump in Manhattan weren’t enough, Blanche is also taking the lead for Trump’s defense in the federal government’s classified-documents case in Florida and is co-counsel for the January 6–related case in Washington, D.C.
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty
After defending the Trump Organization against tax-fraud charges filed by Bragg’s office in 2022, Susan Necheles is working alongside Blanche to defend Trump himself. A veteran defense attorney, she has represented no shortage of notorious clients throughout her career: Pedro Espada Jr., the New York State Senate majority leader found guilty of embezzlement; Clare Bronfman, the Seagram’s heiress in the NXIVM sex-cult case; and Venero Mangano, an underboss for the Genovese crime family known as Benny Eggs.
Local prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case in New York have asked the state judge overseeing the impending trial, scheduled to begin April 15, to clarify the terms of a gag order placed on Trump last week, after the former president repeatedly attacked the judge’s daughter.
Judge Juan Merchan instituted the gag order on Tuesday, citing Trump’s “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” rhetoric and barring him from making interfering statements about witnesses, lawyers, and “the family members” of any “counsel or staff member” in the case. The order did carve out an exception for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading the prosecution. It did not explicitly mention Merchan or his family as covered by the terms of the order.
A day later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, was using a photo of Trump behind bars as her social media profile, claiming that the photo “makes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial.” Merchan is a Democratic political consultant, and Trump wrote that she “represents Crooked Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, and other Radical Liberals.”
Yet the New York State Court system quickly refuted Trump’s claim. A spokesperson said Wednesday that the account in question “no longer belongs” to Merchan’s daughter, and that someone else had taken it over. (As of Saturday, it is still unclear who owns the account.) The profile photo was a “manipulation of an account [Merchan] long ago abandoned,” the spokesperson added.
In a letter filed on Thursday and made public on Friday, Bragg’s office asked Merchan to clarify the order and to direct Trump to “immediately desist from attacks on family members.”
“The People believe that the March 26 Order is properly read to protect family members of the Court,” wrote Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass. “But to avoid any doubt, this Court should now clarify or confirm that the Order protects family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order.” Steinglass added that Trump should face “sanctions under judiciary law” if he continues to “disregard” court orders.
Lawyers for Trump shot back on Friday in a letter to Merchan. “The Court cannot ‘direct’ President Trump to do something that the gag order does not require,” Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles wrote. “To ‘clarify or confirm’ the meaning of the gag order in the way the People suggest would be to expand it.”
In the letter to Merchant, Steinglass claimed that “multiple potential witnesses” have come forward to express concerns “about their own safety and that of their family members” should they testify against Trump next month.
The former president’s New York trial is expected to last approximately two months, and could be the only one of his four criminal trials to wrap up before the November election. The Republican presumptive nominee is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payment during the 2016 presidential race to Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Trump years earlier.
Many Republican voters in key battleground states are standing behind former President Donald Trump amid his mounting legal troubles. With the “hush money” trial set to start April 15, the presumptive GOP nominee will spend a lot of time in the courtroom ahead of November. CBS News’ Major Garrett, Fin Gómez and Katrina Kaufman join with more.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Police chiefs from several law enforcement agencies in the Valley spent Wednesday explaining how aspiring serial killer Raad Almansoori was caught following two stabbing incidents over the weekend, including an attack on a young woman at a McDonald’s.
Police said Almansoori, 26, planned to continue his rampage at Scottsdale Fashion Square, where Scottsdale police officers located and arrested him in a parking deck at the mall.
Surprise police Chief Benny Piña said during a press conference that Almansoori confessed to a stabbing on Sunday in Surprise as well as another stabbing on Saturday in Phoenix. In both cases, the victims survived.
According to Piña, Almansoori also confessed to the high-profile murder of a woman in a New York City hotel on Feb. 8.
“During his interview, Almansoori told us that he had intended to find and harm more individuals in our community,” Piña said. The arrest “without a doubt” stopped Almansoori from continuing his “path of destruction,” Piña added.
Police said Almansoori stabbed an 18-year-old woman multiple times in the women’s restroom of a McDonald’s at 15525 W. Greenway Road in Surprise. He then fled to a residential area where he allegedly stole a vehicle. Surprise police collaborated with other agencies to locate Almansoori by tracing the location of the vehicle’s license plate, Piña said.
Scottsdale police Chief Jeff Walther explained that the license plate number was fed into a database of photos from automated license plate readers in Scottsdale. Police tracked the stolen vehicle to Scottsdale Fashion Square, where they found Almansoori in a parking garage.
“I think Chief Piña hit that nail on the head when he talked about that this gentleman was going to continue this string of violence, but he was going to do so there at Scottsdale Fashion Square,” Walther said.
Walther added that his officers found Almansoori “backed into a spot, we believe, looking for another victim.” Police arrested Almansoori at gunpoint.
Almansoori has been charged with armed robbery, attempted murder, aggravated assault and theft. Court records state that he is “a danger to other persons or the community” and is being held without bail.
‘He has full intent on killing others’
Court records for the two stabbings offered details of Almansoori’s random acts of extreme violence.
The incident on Saturday in Phoenix occurred near a Starbucks at 19th and Glendale avenues, according to a probable cause statement on file with the Maricopa County Superior Court.
The female victim was a shift supervisor at the coffee shop. She took a 10-minute break and was sitting in her parked vehicle when Almansoori allegedly opened the front driver’s side door and pointed a gun at her face.
Almansoori told the victim that he was “going to kill and shoot her.” He lowered the handgun, took out a knife and began stabbing her. The victim “sustained stab wounds/lacerations to her left neck, temple, ear and left hand.” Her attacker then walked away. Surveillance cameras captured the incident. The victim was later treated at a local hospital.
After his arrest, Almansoori told Surprise detectives that he stabbed the woman to keep her from screaming. He said he was planning on taking her car and raping her.
Almansoori said he was “looking for someone who was attractive” and alone and that he was “trying to kill and have sex with her.”
The probable cause statement for the Sunday attack in Surprise said that surveillance footage from McDonald’s showed Almansoori eating within eyesight of the women’s bathroom. The victim, an employee of the restaurant, went into the bathroom, and Almansoori followed her.
The woman had locked herself inside a stall when Almansoori allegedly began “pounding on the stall door,” according to court documents. When she didn’t open the door, Almansoori crawled under it to get into the stall. He allegedly pointed a gun at the woman, she screamed, and he stabbed her at least three times in the neck. The woman was transported to a local hospital and underwent surgery.
Police said they confiscated a BB gun and a knife from Almansoori after he was arrested. Almansoori said he would have shot the woman “if it was a real gun.” He didn’t know the victim, but he “selected her because he was attracted to her.”
The probable cause statement also has this chilling line: “Subject stating he has full intent on killing others again to include specific plans to kill his family.”
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Almansoori’s 30-year-old half sister said he had been violent toward his family. The half sister, who was not identified, lives in Phoenix.
Almansoori had called her recently to tell her he’d flown from New York to Phoenix — news that made her fear for her family’s safety.
“I was scared last week when he told me he was back in Phoenix,” she told the Daily News. “The fact that he left New York so quickly made me think he did something out there, too.”
If the New York City Police Department is correct, her instincts were spot on.
Almansoori is a suspect in the murder earlier this month of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38, in a room at the SoHo 54 Hotel in Lower Manhattan.
Hotel workers discovered Oleas-Arancibia’s body on Feb. 8. Several news outlets have reported that Oleas-Arancibia was bludgeoned to death with an iron. The NYPD released an image of a male suspect leaving the hotel wearing the pink leggings that Oleas-Arancibia had on before she was killed.
The suspect reportedly left a pair of bloody pants behind. The New York Times reported that New York police identified the man in the photo as Almansoori. The NYPD told the media outlet that authorities plan to extradite Almansoori from Arizona and charge him with Oleas-Arancibia’s murder.
A war of words erupted between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell over the prosecution of Raad Almansoori.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images and Serena O’Sullivan
Rachel Mitchell starts social media feud with Manhattan DA
That extradition? Not so fast, according to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
Mitchell, who spoke at the press event on Wednesday, said her office won’t allow the extradition of Almansoori to New York. She took a long-range swipe at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it’s safer to keep (Almansoori) here and keep him in custody so that he cannot be out doing this to individuals either in our state or county or anywhere in the United States,” Mitchell said.
That decision set off a social media feud between Mitchell, a Republican running for re-election this year, and Bragg, a Democrat known for his civil rights work and for prosecuting Donald Trump.
Bragg shot back at Mitchell, saying it was “deeply disturbing that DA Mitchell is playing political games in a murder investigation.”
Mitchell returned fire: “It’s great to see the @ManhattanDA finally take interest in violent crime. My job is to focus on the victims I was elected to protect.”
A group of people, migrants among them, were caught on video attacking two NYPD officers in Times Square last month
At least a half-dozen people have been arrested so far; most were released on bail, sparking outrage among police brass and the governor’s office. Police are now looking for two additional, unidentified suspects
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has defended his decision to not request bail for several suspects, saying he was proceeding cautiously to ensure the proper suspects are identified
The two men, who are still unidentified, are visible on video attacking the officers, officials said. One man is seen kicking an officer multiple times, while the other is seen kicking an officer then falling down, according to officials.
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office
So far, six suspects have been charged with assault from the January attack but only one of of the six was held on bail.
“When you attack our police officers, you should be on Rikers,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said.
Critics are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg from office for releasing the other five defendants.
“Anyone who thinks they should have been let loose, I have a big disagreement with,” Hochul told reporters.
Bragg said he did not want to keep people in jail until he knew who played what role in the assault.
“So we put the right people in jail,” Bragg said.
The Manhattan DA held a news conference to make it clear attacks on police officers will not be tolerated, after dodging reporter questions earlier in the day. News 4’s Melissa Russo reports.
After 10 days scrutinizing the videos made public after the assault, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said in the case of two of the defendants charged and released, the video does not show them making any contact with officers.
One defendant, Kelvin Arocha, who is wearing camouflage in the video, is only seen kicking a police radio, but not a police office, according to the law enforcement source. Another defendant, Wilson Juarez, was charged with assault, but a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said Juarez is not even visible on the videos at all.
“They wanted to make sure they had the right person, but you can hold these people while you’re still investigating,” Hochul said. “You don’t let them out.”
Amid the criticism of Bragg for not seeking bail for the defendants, reports developed that several of the accused migrants boarded buses to California after their release and were headed towards the California-Mexico border. It remains unclear if that definitively happened.
In a statement Tuesday night, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement saying it picked up four suspects Monday in Phoenix who were “…believed to be fleeing the state of New York from their suspected involvement in a coordinated assault on multiple New York City Police Department (NYPD) Officers.”
The Manhattan district attorney’s office put out a statement Wednesday stating the detainees were not connected.
“The Manhattan D.A.’s Office was informed yesterday by HSI that the four individuals they took into custody were not affiliated with the New York City investigation,” the statement said. “To date, we have not received any indication from federal authorities that they have detained anyone related to our case.”
One other suspect is being held at Rikers. Police think a total of at least 13 people were involved. Several of the suspects are migrants, Chell said, while police were familiar with some from past incidents.
“Some of them live in the migrant shelter, they appear to be migrants, obviously. I don’t know when they got here. Some of them already have lengthy police records,” said Chell. “These individuals who were arrested [or] will be arrested should be indicted, they should be sitting in Rikers awaiting their day in front of the judge. Plain and simple.”
On Feb. 2, Bragg dodged reporter questions before ultimately holding a press conference hours later. In that briefing, he defended his decision to not request bail for several suspects, saying he’s proceeding cautiously to ensure the proper suspects are identified.
TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) — Four people believed to be involved in the attack of two NYPD officers in Times Square last month were detained in Phoenix, Arizona, according to ICE.
Officials say the four individuals who “were believed to be fleeing the state of New York” for their suspected involvement in the attack were apprehended while traveling to the Phoenix Greyhound Bus Station from El Paso, Texas.
They were then transferred to the custody of ICE officials.
The NYPD is working with ICE to determine whether they are the same four men who allegedly skipped town on a bus headed toward California after being charged in the attack. If the grand jury indicts them, they will be expected to appear in court.
It comes as one of the suspects arrested in the attack was indicted by a grand jury.
N.J. Burkett has the latest.
Yohenry Brito, the man who allegedly set off the melee by resisting arrest, appeared in court on Tuesday where he was indicted for his role in the assault.
The charges against him will be unsealed when he is arraigned on the indictment at a later date.
Before the indictment, Brito appeared before the judge for about 10 minutes and a new court date was set for March 25 on his two prior misdemeanor cases.
Brito’s defense attorney commented outside court, saying only that “he pleaded not guilty.”
Brito is being held on Rikers Island on $15,000 bail.
The Police Benevolent Association president said in the indictment is a step toward justice.
“This is just one small step towards justice for our injured brothers,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said. “It might never have happened without the outcry from New Yorkers who are fed up with a justice system that keeps failing to protect both police officers and the public. Too many of the participants in this vicious attack are still roaming free. We are once again urging all New Yorkers: keep speaking up until they are all behind bars where they belong.”
The grand jury hearing comes as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg continues to defend his office’s decision to release five of the six suspects without bail.
In light of the attack, some local lawmakers gathered Monday to call for New York City to once again start cooperating with federal immigration officials. Mayor Eric Adams said the law in place that limits the cooperation between the two doesn’t impact the work ICE does.
“ICE can execute warrants. ICE can have a role here. No one is stopping ICE from doing their job. They have a job to do when you deal with dangerous people such as that. I cannot use city resources based on existing law. I think that’s a question that should be presented to the council,” Adams said.
A council spokesperson says the laws limiting cooperation with ICE exist, “to ensure immigrant communities aren’t deterred from seeking help or reporting crime to city officials out of fear of deportation.”
Meanwhile, a statement from New York Immigration Coalition says they trust Bragg and are calling on NYPD to “release the full bodycam footage of the incident to reduce rampant speculation that is fueling anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
Authorities continue to search for several others involved in the attack against the two officers. They say 14 people were involved.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Actor Jonathan Majors was found guilty Monday of misdemeanor domestic violence charges stemming from a March altercation with his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari.
In a split verdict, the jury found the “Creed III” actor guilty of one count of assault in the third degree and one count of second degree harassment.
The panel acquitted him of one count of assault and one count of aggravated harassment.
Majors stood and faced the jury as the verdict was read aloud around 3 p.m. Jurors found Majors assaulted Jabbari in the vehicle and harassed her. They acquitted him of charges that he did so intentionally, as opposed to recklessly.
The verdict came after a six-person jury of three men and three women, which began deliberations late Thursday, heard diametrically opposing narratives about the incident at the heart of the case and the couple’s relationship during a two-week trial in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Grace Jabbari, second from left, the accuser in the assault case against Jonathan Majors, leaves court after giving testimony, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
When she took the stand, Jabbari, 30, told the jury that Majors violently reacted when she grabbed his cell phone upon seeing a flirtatious text from another woman as the pair took a private car service home from a night out in Brooklyn. She said he twisted her arm and struck a blow to the side of her head as he aggressively maneuvered to retrieve the device. Jurors saw photos of Jabbari’s broken finger and a large gash behind her ear.
Jurors saw CCTV footage of the fracas spilling onto the street by the intersection of Canal and Centre Sts., up the street from the courthouse. It showed Majors pushing Jabbari back into the vehicle as she sought to follow him out. She pursued him on foot for several blocks before they parted ways and then went out for a few hours with a group of strangers who inquired about her well-being.
Actors Jonathan Majors, left, and Meagan Good arrive at court for a trial on his domestic violence case, Monday, Dec. 4, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Jabbari said that Majors had hurt her before and told jurors she grew to fear the actor following frequent blowups in which he could become physically threatening.
Of one incident at his West Hollywood home last year, Jabbari alleged Majors dented walls as he hurled objects at her, shattering glass candles and household objects.
“His face kind of changes when he gets into that place,” she testified. “He’s a big guy, so you just want to step back.”
An injury Grace Jabbari allegedly sustained at the hands of Jonathan Majors. (Court Evidence)
The driver of the private Escalade where the argument began testified he was looking ahead throughout the encounter and initially thought Jabbari had hit Majors based on what he had heard. He said Majors was throwing Jabbari back into the car “to get rid of her.”
The 34-year-old “Creed III” actor was arrested the morning after the incident when police discovered his then-girlfriend injured on the floor of their walk-in closet after responding to a 911 call Majors made after he arrived home to their Chelsea penthouse from a hotel.
The British choreographer was treated at Bellevue Hospital for a fractured finger and a large cut behind her ear, which she told medics she sustained the night before during an argument with Majors in public. Jurors saw footage of police questioning her at the penthouse. She testified that she didn’t want the actor to get in trouble when she woke up surrounded by NYPD officers.
“I think just things he had told me in the past of not trusting police — and what they would do to him, as a Black man, and I didn’t want to put him in that situation,” Jabbari said, testifying that she felt like it was her fault upon later learning he’d been arrested.
Court Evidence
An injury Grace Jabbari allegedly sustained at the hands of Jonathan Majors. (Court Evidence)
Majors’ defense argued that Jabbari was the abusive one and that she’d fabricated the assault. Lawyer Priya Chaudhry contended the CCTV footage showed Majors trying to escape Jabbari and said he pushed her back into the car to keep her safe from moving traffic. Majors filed a countercomplaint against Jabbari three months after the incident, alleging she assaulted him, but prosecutors found it had no merit.
When Majors’ lawyer grilled Jabbari about initially withholding the assault from authorities, Judge Michael Gaffey allowed prosecutors to introduce text messages from September 2022 appearing to show Majors admitting to assaulting her during a separate incident and trying to convince her not to seek medical attention for a head injury.
As well as scrutinizing Jabbari’s initial interactions with authorities, Majors’ attorney — who cried when delivering her closing argument — picked apart her decision to go to the club. She described her client as a victim of a racist criminal justice system.
“These prosecutors bought her white lies, her big lies, her pretty little lies,” the lawyer said.
Jonathan Majors and Grace Jabbari attend the “Devotion” premiere in 2022 in Toronto. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
But in her closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Kelli Galaway told the jury that Jabbari’s reaction to the assault didn’t change the fact it happened.
On the second day of Michael Cohen’s testimony against former President Donald Trump in his civil fraud trial, a lawyer with the New York attorney general’s office objected to a question from Trump attorney Alina Habba.
The prosecutor, Colleen Faherty, said Habba’s questions appeared to be “bleeding into” issues related to a criminal case against the president, for which Cohen is also a key witness.
Cohen is a former Trump Organization executive who was for years among Trump’s closest confidants. Now he’s at the center of two cases, a criminal one brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and a civil one brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Michael Cohen gives a thumbs-up at New York State Supreme Court, where he testified in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial on Oct. 25, 2023.
Bloomberg
In the courtroom for Cohen’s testimony Wednesday were Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, two lawyers who represent Trump in his criminal case, in which he has entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records. Several rows behind them was Susan Hoffinger, one of the lead prosecutors in that case, along with four others.
Cohen’s 2019 congressional testimony, in which he said that Trump artificially inflated his wealth, spurred both of the New York investigations. In the civil case, James’ office is seeking $250 million in what it calls “ill-gotten gains” and sanctions that would hamper Trump’s ability to do business in the state.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in both cases.
On Wednesday, Trump’s attorneys repeatedly attacked Cohen’s credibility, continuing an effort that began Tuesday when Cohen acknowledged he lied when he entered a guilty plea to tax evasion in 2018.
Habba said Cohen has “interjected himself into many cases involving my client.”
Former President Donald Trump sits in court with attorneys Alina Habba and Christopher Kise during his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court on Oct. 25, 2023.
Seth Wenig / Getty Images
Not long after, she asked if Cohen was ever represented by Robert Costello, an attorney who appeared, at Trump’s request, before the New York criminal grand jury that indicted Trump in March. Cohen said no.
Costello has claimed that Cohen confided in him, and sought to discredit Cohen to the grand jury, saying Cohen was on a “revenge tour” against Trump.
Habba asked if Cohen ever told Costello, “I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.”
Cohen said he didn’t recall saying that.
Did Cohen ever tell Costello that he would do whatever it takes to avoid jail time, Habba asked.
Cohen said he didn’t recall saying that.
Attorney general and Manhattan D.A. “working in tandem”
A few minutes later, Cohen testified that members of both James’ and Bragg’s offices were in some meetings with him. Both offices have acknowledged previously that members of James’ office were assigned to work with Bragg’s office.
“So the A.G’s office and the D.A.’s office were working in tandem?” Habba asked.
“That is correct,” Cohen says.
Soon after that, Faherty told Judge Arthur Engoron that she was worried the questioning was “bleeding into” the other case.
Habba was allowed to continue. She brought up a book by Mark Pomerantz, a former Manhattan prosecutor who previously led the D.A. office’s investigation into Trump. The book describes some of what would ultimately be nearly two dozen meetings between Cohen and investigators for the Manhattan district attorney before Trump’s indictment.
Pomerantz wrote that Cohen’s criminal history raised potential credibility issues. Not mentioned during the testimony, Pomerantz also wrote that he “thought [Cohen] was telling the truth.”
A light moment came soon after Habba brought up that Cohen testified under oath that he assisted in falsifying valuations, but has neither been named as a defendant in the attorney general’s case nor the district attorney’s.
Habba asked if that might be because James’ office didn’t find him credible.
“You’re drawing a conclusion that I don’t know, you can ask Ms. James,” Cohen replied.
From the front row of the gallery, James loudly said, “objection,” eliciting laughter.
New York Attorney General Letitia James watches proceedings in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial on Oct. 25, 2023, as Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified for a second day.
Seth Wenig/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Habba also attacked Cohen’s credibility by highlighting what the defense has argued are his motivations for testifying against Trump.
Habba showed text messages entered into evidence in Cohen’s federal criminal case. In the texts from early 2017, an unidentified person asks Cohen who will be White House chief of staff.
The unidentified person guessed Trump’s daughter Ivanka, Jared Kushner and others.
“Keep guessing dopey,” Cohen wrote.
“Stop!!! You???” the person replied.
“I will give you a hint….yes,” Cohen texted.
“omg,” the person replied.
Cohen was not named chief of staff, but he testified that he didn’t ask for that job.
“I was given the position that I asked for. There’s no shame to being personal attorney to the president,” Cohen said.
From adoration to animosity
Habba later brought up Cohen’s many media appearances criticizing Trump, contrasting his public animosity to Trump in recent years with his statements of adoration before Trump’s election and during his first year in office — when Cohen famously once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump.
Habba showed a 2015 television interview in which Cohen said $10 billion could be an underestimate of Trump’s wealth, and an article from that same year in which he was quoted saying Trump had “all the qualifications of a great president.” In another article, Cohen was quoted speaking glowingly of “Mr. Trump’s character and capabilities.” In a tweet, Cohen wrote he believed “whole heartedly that only #Trump will #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.”
But in recent years, Cohen has made a career out of criticizing Trump, he acknowledged on the stand Wednesday.
Habba asked if Cohen talks about Trump during every episode of his podcast. He said he does.
“Mr. Cohen, you have financial incentive to criticize Mr. Trump, correct?” Habba asked.
“Yes,” Cohen said.
She finished her questioning by asking, “Did you ever ask President Trump to pardon you while he was in the White House?”
“No,” Cohen replied.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.
Cohen was also repeatedly asked about 2019 Senate testimony in which he said Trump never asked him to inflate numbers for “his personal statement.” On the stand Wednesday, Cohen initially called that a lie, before saying he was mistaken in calling it that. He said Trump never directly asked him.
His apparent uncertainty caused Clifford Robert, an attorney for Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., to ask Judge Engoron to summarily end the case.
Engoron denied the request. Trump immediately stood up and walked out, his Secret Service detail in tow.
Motion to dismiss “absolutely denied”
During redirect questioning by the state, Cohen was asked to explain further the issue with his Senate testimony.
“He did not specifically state, ‘Michael, go inflate the numbers,” Cohen said. “Donald Trump speaks like a mob boss. He tells you what he wants without explicitly telling you. We understood what he wanted.”
Before Cohen was excused, Robert moved again to dismiss the case on the grounds that Cohen, whom he called a key witness, had lied several times. “End this once and for all,” he asked the judge just before court was adjourned for the day.
“Absolutely denied,” Judge Engoron said, adding that there is plenty of evidence in the case, credible or not, and that he doesn’t consider Cohen to be a key witness. “No way, no how… there is enough evidence in this case to fill this courtroom.”
Cohen alleged in his first day of testimony Tuesday that Trump told him to adjust statements of financial conditions — documents at the core of the fraud case — to arrive at a net worth that Trump assigned himself “arbitrarily.”
Cohen’s testimony under cross-examination both days was often combative. Cohen several times replied to Habba’s questions with the phrase, “asked and answered” — an objection lawyers sometimes raise, but witnesses cannot.
At one point Tuesday, Trump attorney Christopher Kise jumped out of his chair. He protested to the judge, saying, “this witness is out of control.”
Trump questioned on gag order, fined $10,000
While Cohen was the focus of lawyers in the courtroom Wednesday, a statement made just outside the doors during a break brought the focus back to Trump.
During a mid-morning break, Trump made a reference to reporters about “a person who is very partisan sitting alongside” the judge. The judge’s clerk, Allison Greenfield, typically sits right next to the judge, and during pretrial hearings often questioned attorneys for the two sides herself.
Earlier in the month, the judge imposed a limited gag order barring Trump from making inflammatory comments about court staff after he posted about Greenfield on social media.
During the court’s lunch break, after reporters were led from the room, lawyers from both sides and Trump remained inside for nearly an hour.
Trump acknowledged making the statement, but said it was about “you and Cohen.”
“You didn’t mean the person on the other side of me?” Engoron asked, referring to Greenfield.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Trump said.
Soon after, Trump was allowed off the stand. Engoron issued him a $10,000 fine.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media moments after he was fined $10,000 by a New York judge for his second violation of a partial gag order on Oct. 25, 2023.
/ Getty Images
Attorneys for Trump protested, saying Greenfield’s behavior was unusual for a law clerk.
Trump attorney Alina Habba said she “does not like being yelled at by law clerks who did not earn the robe,” and said Greenfield’s ” influence on the bench is completely inappropriate and it should stop.”
Engoron countered that his practice is to consult with his law clerks.
“I value input from both my law clerks,” Engoron said. “Every judge does things differently. I don’t know if others have them sit on the bench, that’s how I do things. I make the final decisions.”
This is the second time Trump has been fined since the gag order was put in place. He was fined $5,000 on Oct. 20, because a replication of the since-deleted social media post that sparked the order had never been taken down from a campaign site.
Engoron implied Trump will be fined more if he breaks the gag order again.
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com
Weeks before he was indicted on bribery charges alongside ex-Buildings Department head Eric Ulrich this summer, a Queens tow truck operator got paid by a city agency for a vehicle hauling job — even though he had for years been barred from receiving municipal business due to a separate, ongoing legal battle, the Daily News has learned.
The Sanitation Department’s $9,000 payment to Michael Mazzio’s Mike’s Heavy Duty Towing firm came in two installments — $3,500 on June 28 and $5,500 on July 7, city records show. The disbursements were for a “non-standard” job the company performed that involved towing vehicles, including an excavator, for the Sanitation Department over a three-day span in May and June, agency spokesman Josh Goodman confirmed this week.
The award marked the first time a city agency had given Mike’s Heavy Duty a taxpayer-funded gig since 2018. That year, after nearly a decade of contracting with the firm for vehicle repair services, procurement records show the city stopped offering any more business to Mike’s Heavy Duty in the wake of then-Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance indicting Mazzio on criminal charges that he helped orchestrate a conspiracy to rig city contracts for vehicle towing on highways.
Sanitation Department
New York Sanitation Department equipment is moved by Mike Mazzio’s Heavy Duty Towing firm in the spring of 2023. (Sanitation Department)
The 2018 case is still ongoing, and Mazzio has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Procurement rules from the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services state that an unresolved criminal indictment of a company executive is grounds for barring that company from being considered for any city business. Private companies, meantime, are under the same rules required to disclose details about their principals, such as investigations or indictments they’re facing, before they can receive a city contract.
But Goodman, the Sanitation spokesman, said Mike’s Heavy Duty never filed such a disclosure before this summer’s hauling job — and wasn’t required to — because the firm didn’t sign a formal contract with the agency.
Mary Altaffer/AP
Former New York City’s Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich, left, is sits at Supreme Court with his attorney, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Rather, records show Mike’s Heavy Duty was able to do business with the Sanitation Department because of a loophole. The award was made via a “purchase order” — a form of procurement that does not require a competitive bidding process or disclosures about executives as long as the award is below $20,000.
Since there was no disclosure, Goodman said the department did not realize Mazzio was already under indictment at the time of the haul job.
If it did know, he said the department wouldn’t have given Mazzio’s firm the job and promised it won’t get any more work with the agency going forward. Goodman declined to spell out what type of due diligence the department does for purchase orders, or explain how it’s possible for a pending criminal indictment to not appear in any screening performed on Mike’s Heavy Duty.
It’s unclear if the city keeps companies it’s barred from doing business with in a database.
Sanitation Department
New York Sanitation Department equipment is moved by Mike Mazzio’s Heavy Duty Towing firm in the spring of 2023. (Sanitation Department)
Asked why the department went with Mazzio’s firm in the first place, Goodman said the tow job required a so-called “beam trailer,” and that the agency’s own one was being repaired at the time.
As a result, Goodman said the agency hired Mike’s Heavy Duty because a Sanitation Department mechanic “who needed these vehicles moved knew that this company had [a beam trailer], and so made arrangements.”
Goodman declined to name the mechanic. He said the job was performed to satisfaction and provided The News with photos of the haul.
This summer’s tow job payment to Mike’s Heavy Duty came less than a month before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed criminal charges in August alleging Mazzio and five other men gave Ulrich bribes in 2021 and 2022 in exchange for Ulrich using his government powers to do them favors, including helping them get business with the city.
A spokeswoman for Bragg declined to comment on Sanitation’s payment to Mike’s Heavy Duty.
Ulrich resigned as Mayor Adams’ Buildings commissioner in November 2022 after it first became known Bragg’s office was investigating him over bribery allegations. The ex-commissioner, who has pleaded not guilty, declined to comment Thursday on Mazzio’s recent Sanitation Department gig.
Mazzio, who was alleged by authorities to have reputed mob ties in 2018 and helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Adams’ 2021 campaign with Ulrich, also declined to comment via his attorney, James Frocarro. Mazzio has pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges, too.
One of the five indictments Ulrich was arraigned on this month alleges he used his influence as a top Adams administration official to help Mazzio get his tow truck license with the Department of Consumer and Workers Protection restored after the agency initially refused to renew it in the wake of his 2018 indictment, threatening his firm’s ability to operate. In return, Mazzio showered Ulrich with bribes, including cash and Mets tickets, prosecutors say.
As first reported by the news outlet The City this week, Mazzio also convinced Adams’ administration to scrap a license renewal for one of his top competitors in the tow trucking industry.
Benny Polatseck/NYC Mayor’s Office
New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivers remarks at the Appeal of Conscience Foundation Award Dinner in New York on Monday, September 18, 2023. (Benny Polatseck/NYC Mayor’s Office)
Neither Adams nor any current members of his administration are accused of any wrongdoing as part of Ulrich’s indictments.
Adams and his chief adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, met on multiple occasions with Ulrich and his co-defendants, including Mazzio, according to court papers.
In a series of conversations shortly after Adams took office in January 2022, Mazzio and another co-defendant, Joseph Livreri, urged Lewis-Martin “to get authorization for Mike’s Heavy Duty Towing to tow from NYC’s highways during a snowstorm” and to convince her and “other high ranking NYC officials to remove a competing tow truck company from its arterial towing contract,” one of the indictments charge.
That competing firm is Runway Towing, who had its license renewal application denied by the Department of Consumer and Workers Protection around the same time Mazzio and Livreri discussed the matter with Lewis-Martin, according to The City’s report.
New York City lawyer Joe Tacopina convinced the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case that his prior dealings with porn star Stormy Daniels wouldn’t pose a conflict representing the former president, according to a filing reviewed by the Daily News Monday.
Prosecutors flagged Tacopina’s prior communications with Daniels after he joined Trump’s team in the case centering on an illegal payment to the adult film star ahead of the 2016 election. Daniels’ lawyer, Clark Brewster, filed a complaint with a grievance committee after finding out Tacopina was on the case.
Trump’s Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen Appears For Court Hearing Related To FBI Raid On His Hotel Room And Office
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) exits the United States District Court Southern District of New York on April 16, 2018 in New York City.
At Trump’s April arraignment, Tacopina told Judge Juan Merchan that Daniels had called his firm in 2018 when she was looking for a lawyer and spoke with one of his associates and a paralegal. At the time, he suggested he would represent her in a television interview.
“We refused the case. I did not offer her representation. Didn’t speak to her. Didn’t meet with her,” Tacopina said at the hearing where Trump told Merchan he understood his right to conflict-free representation.
After meeting with Tacopina and conferring with an ethics expert, Merchan, in a Sept. 1 letter, said he would accept there is no conflict.
“[The] court will revisit this issue with Mr. Trump when he next appears virtually on February 15, 2024,” Merchan wrote. “[The] court accepts your suggestion that you do not participate in the examination of Ms. Daniels if she is called as a witness at trial.”
ny
Marc A. Hermann for New York Daily News
Judge Juan Merchan
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies alleging he reimbursed his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, under the table for the hush money payment that violated election laws. According to evidence leading to Cohen’s federal conviction, the money was intended to silence Daniels about an extramarital tryst in 2006.
The case is slated for trial on March 25, though Merchan has signaled openness to pushing it back when the parties reconvene in February. Trump faces another three trials in Florida, Washington, D.C., and Georgia on unrelated charges.
Reached for comment, Tacopina said, “I have said from day one there is no conflict. Now the court has said the same.”
Brewster did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The News. The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
