Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies in the case, which alleges he repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records during his first year in the White House to cover up a payment to a porn star. He also faces three more criminal cases in Georgia, Washington, D.C., and Florida, alleging he plotted to subvert the results of the last election and mishandled classified documents he wasn’t supposed to hold on to.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who sat in the courtroom’s second row throughout Monday’s proceedings, alleges Trump disguised payments to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, totaling $420,000 to conceal that they were repayment for carrying out an illicit hush money scheme including $130,000 to Stormy Daniels.

Jury selection was delayed by several hours as Merchan resolved several outstanding motions. First, he denied Trump’s latest request to recuse himself from the case because his daughter is employed by a political firm that works with Democrats.

“To say that these claims are attenuated is an understatement,” Merchan said, adding Trump could take it up with the appeals courts. “The court will not address this matter further.”

Before jury selection, prosecutors asked Merchan to hold Trump in criminal contempt for potentially violating a gag order in one of his latest online diatribes, in part attacking anticipated star witness Michael Cohen as a liar and a “sleazebag,” which the judge said he’d weigh at a hearing next week.

In the weeks ahead of the trial, Merchan imposed a gag order prohibiting Trump from making extrajudicial statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors on the case and other trial participants. He expanded it to include his relatives and those of Bragg after Trump targeted the judge's daughter online.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy said Trump should be fined $1,000 for each Truth Social post in question. He said prosecutors were reviewing whether he violated Merchan’s gag order a fourth time in another online post Monday morning.

“It’s entirely possible it was done within this courthouse,” Conroy said.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche, in response, denied his client had broken the gag order, claiming he was defending himself against “salacious, repeated, vehement attacks.”

After hearing arguments from both sides, Merchan said he would allow prosecutors to present evidence of Trump’s alleged 2015 agreement with The National Enquirer concerning the magazine’s efforts to hurt his competitors in the presidential race. He also said jurors could hear allegations of Playboy model Karen McDougal’s monthslong affair with Trump.

...continued

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.