Trump lawyers again seek recusal of judge in New York hush-money case - UPI.com (2024)

Attorneys for former President Donald Trump sought for a third time on Thursday to have the judge in his hush-money trial recuse himself due to the work activities of his daughter. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo

"In light of the long-standing and extremely beneficial working relationship between Your Honor's daughter and Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently became the presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democrat[ic] Party, we respectfully submit this pre-motion letter to renew our request that the Court recuse itself," argued Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove.

As in their previous motions, they argued Merchan can't be objective due to his daughter Loren's work at the digital ad agency Authentic.

Loren Merchan, they claimed, "has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns. She has obtained -- and stands to obtain in the future -- extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris."

Merchan has rejected previous demands to recuse himself from the case, in which Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of business fraud in a scheme to buy the silence of a former adult film star about an extramarital sexual encounter prior to the 2016 presidential election.

The recusal motion came just hours after a New York appellate court ruled against his appeal of a gag order in the case, which was imposed to protect prosecutors, court staff and their families from threats triggered by public Trump attacks.

In rejecting Trump's motion to lift the gag order on Thursday, the appeals court ruling said, "threats received by District Attorney staff after the jury verdict continued to pose a significant and imminent threat."

The New York State Court of Appeals ruling said that the gag order should not be terminated because courts are empowered to protect against the unfair administration of justice and the fair administration of justice includes the critical stage of sentencing.

The court said that, since the criminal action in Trump's case isn't terminated until sentencing, "Justice Merchan did not act in excess of jurisdiction by maintaining the narrowly tailored protections in paragraph (b) of the Restraining order."

Merchan partially lifted the gag order following Trump's criminal conviction and allowed Trump to talk about witnesses and jurors in the case.

But Merchan found that the remainder of the gag order must stay in place, ruling that the district attorney staff covered by the gag order "must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment and harm" until sentencing."

In rejecting Trump's bid to lift the gag order, the appeals court said court staff needs to be protected from threats triggered by Trump public attacks.

Trump's sentencing was originally set for July but was changed to mid-September following the U.S. Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision.

Merchan will first decide on a Trump motion to dismiss the conviction. If the judge rejects that, sentencing for Trump will be Sept. 18.

The Thursday appeals court decision noted that it had earlier held that, "Justice Merchan properly weighed petitioner's First Amendment rights against the court's historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm.