Former President Trump said New York Judge Juan Merchan \u2018thinks he is above the Supreme Court,\u2019 after \u2018prohibiting\u2019 him from attending arguments Thursday on presidential immunity, telling Fox News Digital it is \u2018the most important case in many years\u2019 before the high court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital on Wednesday after spending the last two days in a Manhattan courtroom for opening arguments and witness testimony in his unprecedented criminal trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump had requested to attend arguments at the Supreme Court when it holds oral arguments about the former president\u2019s immunity on Thursday, but Judge Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, rejected that request.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Because he thinks he is above the Supreme Court, he is prohibiting me from going to the presidential immunity hearing where some of the great legal scholars will be arguing the case \u2014 the most important case in many years on the Supreme Court,\u2019 Trump told Fox News Digital. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in June on whether Trump is immune from prosecution by Special Counsel Jack Smith out of his investigation into 2020 election interference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Without presidential immunity, the presidency becomes a ceremonial position only, it will be decimated,\u2019 he continued. \u2018He\u2019s prohibiting me from going. He is a radical left Democrat.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Trump requested to attend the Supreme Court arguments last week, Merchan told his attorney: \u2018Arguing before the\u00a0Supreme\u00a0Court\u00a0is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018But a trial in New York\u00a0Supreme\u00a0Court\u2026 is also a big deal,\u2019 Merchan said last week, requiring the former president to be in his Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, instead of at the high court in Washington, D.C.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A ruling from the Supreme Court on the issue of presidential immunity is expected by late June.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Virtually every legal scholar and expert in the country said that this case should not have been brought, that there was no crime, that everything was done properly and that this is a case that should be dropped immediately,\u2019 Trump told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s an embarrassment to Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party who are duly standing behind it and the judge is totally conflicted \u2014 totally conflicted,\u2019 he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018If falsifying a business record is because a bookkeeper wrote down \u2018legal expense\u2019 in paying a legal fee, that\u2019s not falsifying,\u2019 Trump told Fox News Digital. \u2018They call it a legal expense \u2014 and that\u2019s what it was. It was a legal expense.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added: \u2018It was legal fees paid to a lawyer \u2014 that\u2019s called a legal expense.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s criminal trial stemming from Smith\u2019s investigation has been put on hold pending a Supreme Court decision on whether Trump is immune from prosecution.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Those charges stemmed from Smith\u2019s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.<\/p>\n
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in August.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Trump also requested to skip court on May 17 to attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Barron.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The other thing is, the judge is prohibiting me from going to my son\u2019s graduation from high school \u2014 my son Barron, who has worked very hard and he\u2019s a great student,\u2019 Trump told Fox News Digital. \u2018He can\u2019t have his father at his graduation because of a vicious judge that\u2019s totally conflicted.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump added: \u2018He should never be allowed to do this case.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump and his attorneys had sought Merchan to recuse himself from the case due to his daughter\u2019s Democrat-affiliated political work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Merchan\u2019s daughter, Loren, has a leadership role and ownership stake at Authentic Campaigns Inc., which Trump lawyers say \u2018services exclusively Democrat clients\u2019 and is \u2018the #21 ranked vendor in the country in connection with the 2024 election.\u2019<\/p>\n
Some of Authentic\u2019s top \u2018featured clients\u2019 on its website include campaigns associated with Trump opponents \u2014 including \u2018President Biden, Vice President Harris, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Congressman [Adam] Schiff, Congressman [Hakeem] Jeffries, Congressman [Dan] Goldman, Congresswoman [Lauren] Underwood, and Congresswoman [Summer] Lee.\u2019 The website also features its work for the Democrat-backed \u2018Senate Majority PAC,\u2019 and the Democrat-backed \u2018House Majority PAC.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Merchan said he saw no basis for recusal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Barron\u2019s graduation, Merchan has yet to formally grant or deny Trump\u2019s request, and instead has said he will make his decision based on how the trial is going.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
Former President Trump said New York Judge Juan Merchan \u2018thinks he is above the Supreme Court,\u2019 after \u2018prohibiting\u2019 him from attending arguments Thursday on presidential immunity, telling Fox News Digital it is \u2018the most important case in many years\u2019 before the high court.\u00a0 The former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee spoke exclusively to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}