Ex-federal prosecutor: Trump 'looks increasingly desperate' as hush money trial draws closer

10 April 2024

Former President Donald Trump and his legal team have been making a variety of arguments in the hope of delaying his trial in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.'s hush money case, from accusing Justice Juan Merchan of political bias to requesting a change of venue. Trump, his lawyers argued, cannot get a fair trial in liberal, Democrat-leaning New York City.

But on April 8, Judge Lizbeth González of the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division firmly declared that Trump's "application for a stay of trial…. is denied." And jury selection is still set to begin on Monday, April 15 in a Manhattan courtroom.

April 15 will mark a first in U.S. history, as it will be the first time a former president of the United States went to trial on criminal charges — while running for president again and, according to countless polls, having a good shot at returning to the White House.

MSNBC legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance discussed Trump's last-ditch efforts to delay the trial during a Wednesday, April 10 appearance on "Morning Joe." And she warned that Trump's "delay tactics" may grow more and more outrageous as April 15 draws closer.

Vance told MSNBC's Willie Geist, "The former president looks increasingly desperate to keep this one from going to trial….. Look, I've seen defendants who really don't want their case to proceed to engage in a full display of delay tactics in the game. We might see someone become ill. Certainly, that won't benefit Donald Trump politically. But you know, when the stakes are this high, maybe he'll decide it's time to develop an illness."

The former federal prosecutor continued, "He might try firing his lawyers. But what has seemed clear in the last few days is: the courts are on to what's going on here, and these New York appellate judges have said, 'Look, you can appeal your issue about venue or the gag order, but what you can't do is delay the trial in order to do that.'"

Bragg is accusing Trump of falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential election, when — according to Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen — hush money payments were made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says that Trump had an extramarital affair with her. Trump — Bragg, Daniels and Cohen allege — made hush money payments to keep that information from voters.

Vance stressed that the severity of the charges in Bragg's indictment go way beyond hush money payments.

Vance told Geist, "Willie, I know we've gotten into the habit of calling it the hush money case. But Judge Juan Merchan issued a series of rulings earlier this week talking about how he would conduct the jury voir dire, the jury selection process: He will read a description of the case to jurors that will explain that it's about interference in advance of the 2016 election. And that's where this case is properly positioned. That's why Trump is so desperate to keep it from going to trial."

Watch the full video below or at this link.

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