While I took some time off (more or less), there was post-trial legal wrangling in Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of former president Donald Trump. It has now come to a head, with Judge Juan Merchan signaling that he is prepared to deny the Republican presidential nominee’s motions to vacate the guilty verdicts and impose a sentence right as early voting begins in the 2024 election.
Recall that in May, the jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of business-records falsification — those were the formal allegations, even though Bragg was permitted by the presiding state judge, Juan Merchan, to try the case as if the charge were conspiracy to steal the 2016 election by violating federal campaign law.
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