Say it ain’t so.
Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor and current legal analyst, is arguing that “everything” is under threat for former President Donald Trump amid his currently unfolding criminal case in New York City. That case, accusing Trump of falsifying business records in connection with hush money from before the 2016 elections, reached trial this week, which started in part with jury selection.
“THE STAKES: if Trump loses this NY state case everything is potentially on the line and he knows it: his presidential campaign and with it his only available option to avoid multiple federal and state criminal convictions and significant jail time,” Weissmann wrote late Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Trump team failed in a series of last-minute attempts at getting the trial delayed beyond its eventually scheduled start of this Monday, challenging even presiding Judge Juan Merchan continuing to participate in the proceedings at all — a motion for recusal (meaning Merchan’s exit) that the judge rejected on Monday. Trump’s team had filed an earlier push for the same outcome that the judge also rejected. Complaints from the ex-president’s team included allegations of conflicts stemming from purported political activities of a daughter to the judge.
Trump himself started going after this daughter publicly in his familiar, angry complaints of alleged political bias… leading to Merchan expanding Donald’s gag order, which also blocks attacks by Trump on witnesses (known or just reasonably foreseeable) and jurors. Prosecutors allege that Trump has violated this order and seek a series of penalties, though Merchan has pushed off further resolution of that dispute until coming days, with a hearing set for early next week.
