"Altered" procedure - Does Trump have some valid points?
Biden allegedly played a role in the process happening in Manhattan, where the majority of voters (85%) support him. The judge didn't allow the process to be moved elsewhere.
"Biden's administration set this up to harm a rival," Trump claimed after his conviction.
Backing up Trump's assertion: Main prosecutor Alvin Bragg is a Democrat, while another prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, previously worked at the Department of Justice under Biden and handled Trump-related matters before.
However, Manhattan's district attorney is a public figure who's not beholden to the president.
It also holds true: Bragg took the case to court after his predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr. had rejected it, suggesting the indictment's potential political motives.
Regarding bias: Trump and his lawyers attempted to remove Judge Juan Merchan from the case due to his daughter, Loren Merchan, being an advisor for prominent Democrats.
Loren runs Authentic Campaigns, a political consulting firm in Chicago associated with other Trump adversaries like Representative Adam Schiff. She supported the first impeachment proceedings against Republicans and even donated $35 to the Democrats in their 2020 campaign.
Despite these connections, the committee concluded that no signs pointed toward the judge's or his daughter's activities impacting the trial's outcome.
Concerning the "gag order": Trump claimed the judge's order muted him completely, silencing him about the case, but allowing others to talk about him.
He was, however, given a restricted gag order that barred him from insulting jurors, witnesses, and the judge and prosecutor's families. Trump consistently disregarded this and was fined for his actions.
The "crime": Trump declared, "There's no crime," and no one understood the "crime" he was convicted of. He claimed to be unaware of who he was being prosecuted for.
For clarification: Trump was charged with falsifying business records and making false statements - typically, these are misdemeanors. The statute of limitations for these offenses had already passed.
Prosecutor Bragg transformed these into felonies by alleging these acts served as part of a conspiracy to affect the 2016 elections. Contending that the jurors were manipulated due to these unique circumstances is a stretch.
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