Former President Donald Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will face off during an upcoming hush-money trial in New York City. (Getty Images)
"Authentic and Your Honor’s daughter are making money by supporting the creation and dissemination of campaign advocacy for President Trump’s opponent, political rivals, and the Democrat party," Trump's defense said. "It can no longer be ignored that Authentic’s commercial interests are benefitted by developments in this case that harm President Trump’s penal interests and divert his efforts from running his leading campaign for the presidency by requiring him to prepare and sit for trial during the general election."
Citing filings with the Federal Election Commission, Trump’s attorneys argued that "Authentic has received millions of dollars in disbursements from entities associated with President Trump’s political rivals since the Indictment was returned" and "some of those funds were paid to Authentic by entities associated with legislators and PACs that have used email and/or social media to solicit contributions specifically based on this case." Thus, they claimed, "there is strong evidence that Authentic has used this case to make money" and "those benefits and the ongoing financial interest cannot be ignored."
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg returns to the courtroom during a hearing to determine the date of former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial in New York City on March 25, 2024. (MARY ALTAFFER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Namely, Trump’s team took issue with the court using the Office of Court Administration to issue a statement relating to an X account used at some point by Merchan’s daughter.
"As public scrutiny on these issues increased, the account in question appears to have been closed to the public. So too has Authentic’s X account, thereby limiting President Trump’s ability to investigate these issues," they wrote.
They cited the Associated Press having quoted a court spokesperson stating that Merchan’s daughter no longer owned an X account that appeared to have recently shared a photo of the former Republican president behind bars. Hitting back, Bragg’s office wrote, "To the extent defendant intends to seek recusal based on the cited article, such a request would be a frivolous and vexatious effort to further waste the Court's time."
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The prosecution said that Trump "fails to note that—aside from acknowledging ‘intense’ preparation the article reports that ‘Merchan wouldn't talk about the case’" and "does not report that the Court was talking about this case when the Court reportedly said ‘There's no agenda here. We want to follow the law.’"
Bragg’s team added that "even if the Court did have this case in mind, expressing a broad commitment to impartiality is very obviously not a prohibited ‘comment about a pending or impending proceeding,’ and is not a basis for recusal."
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/manhattan-da-bragg-denies-trump-hush-money-trial-benefit-judges-daughter-despite-dem-fundraising-ties