New York Judge Juan Manuel Merchan has presided over criminal cases against former President Donald Trump’s company, its former finance chief and one of Trump's former White House aides. Now Merchan is poised to take the historic hush-money prosecution of Trump himself. Trump says he's “completely innocent” and being targeted in a “political persecution.” He has seized on Merchan’s involvement, saying the judge hates him. Merchan is a former prosecutor with 16 years on the bench. A lawyer who represented the former finance chief of Trump's company says Merchan was “a real listener” who kept his word.
Former President Donald Trump faces his most urgent legal challenge in New York, where he’s set to be arraigned this week on charges arising from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign.
Donald Trump has become the first former president to be indicted in a criminal case after a grand jury investigation into hush money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign. The unprecedented indictment comes as the Republican is facing other legal investigations and mounting a bid to return to the White House in 2024. Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said Thursday that the former president didn’t commit any crime. Trump's lawyer vowed to “vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.” The indictment has not yet been unsealed, so the exact charges against Trump remain unclear.
NEW YORK (AP) Stocks are rising on a calming Wall Street Tuesday, even the banks most beaten down by the industry’s crisis, amid hopes for more help from the U.S. government. The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in midday trading after halving a bigger gain from the morning.
NEW YORK (AP) Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said under oath that he believes the 2020 presidential election was free, fair and not stolen, according to court filings released Tuesday in a voting machine company’s defamation lawsuit over Fox News’ coverage of former President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims.