Trump Declares Court Battle ‘Long From Over’

There is an army standing shoulder to shoulder with President Trump.

The convictions are unlikely to stand on appeal.  Hugh Hewitt enumerates:

The charging document didn’t specify the “second crime”;

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Judge Juan Merchan had made small contributions to the Biden campaign and anti-Trump organizations, but didn’t recuse himself;

Judge Merchan didn’t allow former FEC chairman Brad Smith (a friend and sometime professional collaborator of mine) from testifying as an election-law expert;

Judge Merchan’s jury instructions were confusing, such that the jury had to ask him to read parts back more slowly so they could transcribe them (he wasn’t allowed to give them his carefully crafted 55-page document, apparently standard practice in New York state courts, which is itself a problem);

Judge Merchan didn’t instruct the jury on the elements of the campaign-finance offense or any other second offense—and famously said that if jurors disagreed as to what that second crime was but were still unanimous that there was a second crime, that would be enough to convict (which, again, may be allowed under New York law but adds to the fishiness of the whole endeavor).

‘FIXED’—Judge Gave the NYC Jury a 55 Page Road Map to Find Trump Guilty

TURLEY: We still don't even know what he was found guilty of — a sad day for this country. pic.twitter.com/jGUot0f8FV

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 30, 2024

Trump Declares Court Battle ‘Long From Over’ as He Denounces ‘Rigged Decision’: Ex President Faces Probation Report, Sentencing Hearing

The prosecution may cite the former president’s lack of remorse, and repeated violations of a gag order, as reason for a harsher sentence.

President Trump arrives at Trump Tower on May 30, 2024 at New York City. The former president was found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Trump has now become the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

By: Marie Pohl, NY Sun, May 31, 2024:

Thirty four times, the word guilty pounded the walls of the Manhattan courtroom on Thursday afternoon. Like 34 punches, the guilty verdict struck again and again and again. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, won a big victory. But the legal battle over the hush-money case is not over yet.

“This is long from over,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the courthouse hallway at 5:18 pm, after he had exited the courtroom. “This was a rigged decision right from day one, with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case, never. And we’ll keep fighting, we’ll fight ’til the end and we’ll win … We will fight for our Constitution,” Trump said.

He will hold a press conference in the atrium of Trump Tower late Friday morning. On his social media platform, Truth Social, all Thursday evening, Trump repeatedly stated that, “The real verdict will be on November 5th by THE PEOPLE– they know what happened here.”

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The former president has a right to appeal his verdict, and can do so after sentencing, which the judge set for July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee, where the GOP will nominate Trump as its presidential candidate for the upcoming election.

It was one of Trump’s defense attorneys, Todd Blanche, who had asked the judge for a sentencing date in July, because he must prepare beforehand for a three day hearing scheduled for another of Trump’s criminal cases in Florida in late June. Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with illegally taking classified documents from the White House when he left office in January 2021, and hoarding them at Mar a Lago. Even though the presiding federal judge, Aileen Cannon, has indefinitely postponed the trial, there is a hearing scheduled and Mr. Blanche, who is defending Mr. Trump in that case as well, asked the New York judge, Juan Merchan, for time to prepare and “not focus on this matter,” Mr. Blanche said, referring to the hush-money case.

Mr. Blanche seemed sincerely distraught. His voice was shaking when he asked the judge, immediately after the verdict was read, to move for “a judgment notwithstanding verdict,” in other words, to dismiss the verdict.

“There is no basis and no way,” the defense attorney stuttered in disbelief, “that the jury could have reached this verdict without the acceptance of Cohen’s testimony.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and so-called “fixer,” who plays a central role in the hush-money case, testified during the trial, and Mr. Blanche now says Cohen committed perjury on the witness stand. Further, Mr. Blanche inferred that the judge knew Cohen, who has served prison time for lying to Congress, has admitted to lying on multiple occasions, was again lying.

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