Trump case

The Trump hush money trial is underway and is unusual in a number of respects. First off, Justice Department investigators ended their investigation into the hush-money payments in July 2019 after convicting Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation because the payments he arranged to silence the women in the weeks before the 2016 election could have affected the results. But Trump wasn’t charged. Not satisfied with the Justice Department resolution Attorney General Alvin Bragg decided to take action. Bragg has said he sued Trump more than 100 times when he worked in the state Attorney General's office, including successfully targeting the Trump Foundation for misuse of charitable funds for personal and political purposes. Federal prosecutors and former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. considered charging Donald Trump for covering up hush-money payments and both declined, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was undeterred. Many assume that the judge in charge of the trial is a democrat. Judge Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York, donated $35 in political contributions to Democrats in 2020, including a $15 contribution to the campaign of Trump’s opponent, President Joe Biden. The trial is being conducted in the Manhattan District where jurors are selected from voter registration records and 87% are registered democrats. The sister of the judge is also in the news because: It's true that Loren Merchan has served as president of Authentic Campaigns, a firm that does digital campaign work like online fundraising, mobile messaging and web design. They work with Democratic political candidates, including some of Trump's most outspoken opponents.Apr 7, 2024 Bragg took the initial charge which was a misdemeanor and had expired because of the statute of limitations and upgraded it to felony in order to proceed. Interestingly enough Bragg changes 60% of felony charges presented to him to misdemeanors just the opposite of what he did in the Trump case.