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'The Next President of the United States Is a Felon': Trump Sentenced
"Donald Trump will have no penalty for criminal wrongdoing, which is an affront to accountability and to a system where no one is above the law, though the judge had little alternative," said one ethics expert.
Jan 10, 2025
After being convicted of 34 felonies in New York last year, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday received an unconditional discharge during a sentencing hearing that came just over a week before the Republican's second inauguration.
Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court—which includes three Trump appointees—allowed the hearing to proceed, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan declined to impose fines or sentence Trump to prison for his crimes, which related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
"Donald Trump will have no penalty for criminal wrongdoing, which is an affront to accountability and to a system where no one is above the law, though the judge had little alternative," said Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "But now, formally, the next president of the United States is a felon."
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NY State Appeals Court Denies 'Ridiculous' Effort to Halt Trump Sentencing
"Immunity doesn't apply to the unofficial conduct for which he was convicted in NY," wrote one legal expert.
Jan 07, 2025
On Tuesday, an appeals court in New York denied President-elect Donald Trump's bid to delay his January 10 sentencing in his criminal "hush money" case.
Appearing before Judge Ellen Gesmer, Trump's legal team argued that a sitting president's immunity from prosecution extends to a president-elect.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have immunity—in some cases "presumptive" and in others "absolute"—for their "officials acts" taken while in office.
Gesmer allowed sentencing to proceed after a brief hearing during which she appeared skeptical of the argument presented by Trump's lawyer, according to The New York Times. The outlet wrote that the ruling is "a significant setback to Trump's hopes of shutting down the case before returning to the White House."
"Trump will run through the appeals courts looking for one willing to pause his impending sentencing. But his argument is just ridiculous—immunity doesn't apply to the unofficial conduct for which he was convicted in NY," wrote Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, on X Tuesday.
Last week, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upheld the president-elect's criminal conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business documents. The case pertains to a $130,000 hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before Trump's 2016 electoral victory.
Trump's lawyers then filed a request to delay the sentencing with Merchan, which he rejected Monday.
When it comes to sentencing, Merchan has signaled he may issue an unconditional discharge, meaning Trump would not serve jail time, but it would cement his status as the first U.S. president convicted of a felony.
Trump has other legal avenues to try to delay the sentencing scheduled for Friday, according to the Times.
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Legal Expert Explains Why Trump Effort to Squash Sentencing Is BS
"Hasn't Trump delayed accountability long enough?" asked Norm Eisen of the Brookings Institution.
Jan 06, 2025
Arguments from lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump in a legal filing made public Monday amounted to "nonsense," said longtime legal analyst Norm Eisen, as the Republican leader attempts to avoid a sentencing that would cement his status later this month as the first convicted felon to serve as president of the United States.
Trump's attorneys filed a "notice of automatic stay" three days after New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upheld the president-elect's criminal conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business documents. The case—one of four pending criminal cases against Trump while he ran for president last year—pertains to a $130,000 hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before Trump's 2016 electoral victory.
In upholding the conviction, Merchan rejected Trump's motion to vacate a New York jury's guilty verdict last May and scheduled his sentencing for January 10.
On Monday, lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove—who are also Trump's nominees for deputy attorney general and assistant to the deputy attorney general—claimed the case should be paused because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer which gave presidents broad immunity for "official acts" they take.
"I call BS," said Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explaining on the social media platform X that presidential immunity "does not apply here" because the case pertains to events that took place before Trump was first elected president.
Trump's claim that he should enjoy "sitting-president immunity" is also "nonsense," said Eisen, as he has not been the sitting president since January 2021 and won't be again until January 20, 10 days after the scheduled sentencing.
"His claim that sitting-president immunity extends into the transitional period while he is 'president-elect' is nonsense," said Eisen. "There's no such doctrine in American law. He's making this up."
Blanche and Bove demanded that Merchan indicate by 2:00 pm on Monday whether he would block the sentencing.
"Lawyers don't impose deadlines on judges; it's the other way around," said MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg. "But that didn't stop Trump's lawyers from giving Judge Merchan a deadline of TODAY at 2:00 pm to say whether he'll proceed with 1/10 sentencing, or else they will file an emergency appeal."
A spokesperson for the district attorney's office told The Washington Post that the judge was expected to file a response Monday.
In the filing, Eisen said, "Trump argues that 'further criminal proceedings are automatically stayed by operation of federal constitutional law.'"
"Wrong again!" he wrote. "There is no automatic stay. He's making this shit up as he goes along."
"Hasn't Trump delayed accountability long enough?" said Eisen. "You know if he gets this stay, his sentencing will never occur. I strongly oppose a stay—and so does the interest of justice."
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Upholding Trump Conviction in Hush-Money Case, Judge Sets Sentencing for Next Week
The president-elect's sentencing is scheduled for January 10, though it will almost certainly be appealed.
Jan 03, 2025
President-elect Donald Trump will almost certain to be the first felon to serve as U.S. president following a ruling on Friday by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Weeks before Trump is set to take office, Merchan upheld Trump's criminal conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case involving efforts to conceal a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election cycle.
The Republican president-elect had filed a motion to dismiss the indictment and vacate the guilty verdict that was reached by a jury in May.
Merchan scheduled Trump's sentencing for January 10, just 10 days before his inauguration.
Merchan signaled in his ruling that he is not inclined to sentence the Republican president-elect to prison. The conviction carries up to four years in prison.
Instead, Merchan is expected to grant Trump an "unconditional discharge" of his sentence, according to The New York Times, which cements his status as a felon but allows him to walk free.
The Manhattan district attorney had proposed the possibility of postponing Trump's sentencing until after his second presidential term ends in 2029.
His sentencing was originally set for July but was postponed after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents enjoy "absolute immunity" for "official acts" taken while in office. That ruling was related to a separate indictment of Trump regarding his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump is expected to ask an appeals court to intervene and postpone the January 10 sentencing.
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Judge Delays Trump Sentencing in Hush Money Case Until After 2024 Election
One analyst argued the decision was "wrong," writing that "if no one is above the law, then Trump shouldn't be either."
Sep 06, 2024
The New York judge overseeing the criminal case stemming from hush money payments that Donald Trump made to porn star Stormy Daniels opted Friday to postpone the Republican nominee's sentencing until after the 2024 election, granting the former president's request for a delay.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote Friday that "this is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court's view, best advances the interests of justice."
Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, but Merchan noted that the U.S. Supreme Court's sweeping presidential immunity decision provided Trump's legal team an opening to delay the process further.
Prior to Merchan's order Friday, Trump's sentencing hearing was set for September 18.
As The New York Times reported, "it is unclear whether sentencing Mr. Trump" in the weeks ahead of the November 5 election "would have helped or harmed him politically; his punishment could have been an embarrassing reminder of his criminal record, but could have also propelled his claims of political martyrdom."
"The jury did its job and, after reviewing a mountain of evidence that resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts, it's well past time for Donald Trump to be held accountable."
Norman Eisen, co-founder and board member of State Democracy Defenders Action, argued in an op-ed for MSNBC last month that Trump's sentencing should not be delayed, writing that "Trump should be denied the special treatment he seeks to delay his sentence simply because he is a presidential candidate."
"To avoid undermining public faith in the rule of law and fairness of the criminal justice system," Eisen wrote, "Trump's sentencing should go ahead as scheduled."
Eisen wrote on social media Friday that Merchan's decision to postpone Trump's sentencing was "wrong."
"Trump has already benefited from extraordinary special treatment," he added. "If no one is above the law, then Trump shouldn't be either."
Merchan wrote in his decision Friday that "this matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation's history," and experts are uncertain what would happen under various possible scenarios—including if Trump wins the 2024 election and is subsequently sentenced to prison.
One certainty, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is that "even if Trump is elected to a second term, he would not be able to pardon himself for these crimes because he was convicted on New York state charges."
Lisa Gilbert and Brett Edkins, co-chairs of the Not Above the Law Coalition, said in a statement Friday that "today's latest delay prevents justice from being served."
"At every step along the way, Trump and his legal team did everything they could to delay accountability in this case and undermine our legal system—even stooping so low as to intimidate witnesses, publicly criticize jurors, and defy orders from the judge," they continued. "The jury did its job and, after reviewing a mountain of evidence that resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts, it's well past time for Donald Trump to be held accountable."
This story has been updated to include a statement from the Not Above the Law Coalition.
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'I'll Take Up Arms If He Asks': Violent Supporters Rush to Trump After Guilty Verdict
"Trump retains an ironclad ability to mobilize more extreme supporters to action, both at the ballot box and through violence," warned one expert.
May 31, 2024
As supporters of Donald Trump flood right-wing platforms with threats against the jurors and judge following guilty verdicts Thursday in his criminal case regarding hush money payments, fears are growing that the influence the Republican presumptive presidential nominee has over his supporters will soon lead to violence.
"Until and unless he accepts the process, the extremist reaction to his legal troubles will be militant," Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Reuters.
The former president gave no sign of accepting the legal process Friday as he held a press conference at Trump Tower, repeating claims that the case had been "rigged."
Shortly after a New York jury announced its verdict in the case regarding documents that were falsified to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniel just before the 2016 election to keep her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump, right-wing websites like Gateway Pundit, Truth Social, and Patriots.Win saw an uptick in violent posts from users.
One commenter called for "someone in NY with nothing to lose" to "take care of" New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, while another on Gateway Pundit directed a threat at any and all opponents of Trump.
"Time to start capping some leftys," said the user. "This cannot be fixed by voting."
The reaction is a direct result, said Ware, of Trump's "insistence that he is being mistreated."
Trump responded to the verdict on Thursday by telling reporters he is "a very innocent man" and calling the trial—one of four criminal cases against him—"a disgrace." He is expected to appeal the verdict. On Friday morning, the Trump campaign announced a $35 million fundraising haul following the guilty verdict.
Some Trump supporters signaled they are waiting for instructions from the former president, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the November general election and is set to be formally nominated days after his scheduled sentencing in July.
On Patiots.win, one commenter called for 1 million armed Trump supporters to "go to Washington and hang everyone," while another said the former president "should already know he has an army willing to fight and die for him if he says the words...I'll take up arms if he asks."
While Republican lawmakers have not explicitly endorsed a violent reaction to the verdict that found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts, many have joined Trump in making clear that they don't accept the trial's outcome.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has said she would not endorse Trump in the 2024 election, said Manhattan District Attorney charged Trump for politically motivated reasons and falsely claimed that he campaigned on prosecuting the former president.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the "charges never should have been brought in the first place," while House Speaker Mike Johnson accused the Biden administration of the "weaponization of our justice system."
Progressives agreed with Trump on one point Friday, after he pledged that the hush money case is "long from over" and said that "the real verdict is going to be November 5" when U.S. voters go to the polls in the general election.
While celebrating that a jury of "everyday people" held the former president accountable and proved that "despite his worst efforts, Trump is not above the law," People's Action executive director Sulma Arias said Democrats "must beat him at the ballot box" to keep him from further eroding U.S. democracy, climate action, and other progressive values.
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Trump Makes History as First US Pres on Trial
The beginning of jury selection in the New York City “hush-money” case has Trump alarmed that his strategy of delaying his day of reckoning is coming to an end.
Apr 17, 2024
Donald Trump became the first former or sitting U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges when jury selection began Monday in his “hush-money” case in New York City. Not even Richard Nixon, who was saved from an indictment for his role in the Watergate scandal by a presidential pardon, achieved such ignominy. Whatever its outcome, the trial will make history.
Trump was indicted in New York on March 30, 2023 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public during the 2016 presidential campaign about their alleged sexual encounter a decade earlier. In a “Statement of Facts” filed along with the indictment and in a press release issued the day of Trump’s April 4 arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg explained that the payment to Daniels was part of a larger “catch and kill” scheme Trump initiated in August 2015 “to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects.”
In addition to the Daniels disbursement, the scheme involved a $150,000 payment to former Playboy magazine “Playmate of the Year” Karen McDougal to cover up an alleged extramarital affair, and a $30,000 payment to Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, who allegedly was trying to sell a story about a child Trump had fathered out of wedlock.
From a political standpoint, the hush-money prosecution may not be as significant as Trump’s other criminal cases, but apart from its embarrassing and salacious details—all of which will be laid bare in open court—it is no laughing matter.
The scheme was carried out by Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, who made the payment to Daniels on Trump’s behalf and was later reimbursed by Trump. The payments to McDougal and Sajudin came from American Media, Inc., the former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, whose then-chairman and chief executive officer, David Pecker, is a long-time Trump associate.
Although evidence of the larger scheme will come before the jury to show Trump’s intent to use the payments to enhance his election prospects, the indictment only charges him with offenses related to Daniels.
There is nothing illegal per se about making hush-money payments. The wealthy often use them to secure nondisclosure agreements to keep embarrassing or confidential information private.
What makes Trump’s scheme unlawful, according to Bragg, is that Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels was actually a contribution to Trump’s election campaign that was both undisclosed and exceeded the 2016 $2,700 limit on individual contributions set by the Federal Election Campaign Act. In addition, the reimbursement checks written to Cohen in 2017 were “illegally disguised [in the records of the Trump Organization] as… payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement” to hide their actual purpose. Eleven of the 34 counts lodged against Trump involve checks written to Cohen (nine signed by Trump himself); 12 concern false invoices Cohen submitted; and 12 involve false entries in records maintained by the Trump Organization.
Although New York prosecutors routinely litigate business-record frauds, such cases are usually handled as misdemeanors. Offenses become felonies when the intent to defraud includes an intent to commit or conceal another crime. The other crimes implicated in Trump’s scheme include federal election campaign finance violations, parallel state-election law crimes, and tax fraud.
As in all criminal cases, Bragg’s legal team will have the burden of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The team has named 11 potential witnesses, headed by Cohen, Daniels, and Pecker. Also named are Trump administration operatives Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, and Trump Organization insiders Rhona Graff, Jeffrey McConney, and Deborah Tarasoff, who presumably will be called to help establish Trump’s knowledge of the scheme and his criminal intent.
In addition to the witnesses, the prosecution will present a trove of documentary evidence, including the reimbursement checks written to Cohen, the phony business ledger entries, and a taped telephone conversation between Cohen and Trump that Cohen secretly recorded in September 2016. The pair can be heard on the recording discussing how to hide the payments to McDougal.
None of this means that the case is a slam dunk. Cohen will be particularly easy prey on cross examination as a convicted felon. In 2018, he pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion, making false statements to banks and campaign finance violations for the Daniels and McDougal payments. He was subsequently sentenced to serve three years in prison.
Trump was never charged with a federal crime, but was named in the pleadings filed against Cohen as “individual 1,” on whose behalf Cohen allegedly acted.
All of this has Trump alarmed that his strategy of delaying his day of reckoning in a criminal trial is coming to an end. The strategy has worked thus far in the two cases brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith for election subversion and mishandling classified documents, and in the case brought by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis for election interference.
But the strategy has run aground in Trump’s former hometown, where he rose to fame as a real estate mogul and a “reality TV” huckster. Last week, his attorneys lost four last-ditch motions to delay the trial.
From a political standpoint, the hush-money prosecution may not be as significant as Trump’s other criminal cases, but apart from its embarrassing and salacious details—all of which will be laid bare in open court—it is no laughing matter. Each of the 34 counts carries a potential four-year prison term, with a maximum cap of 20 years for convictions on five or more counts.
We can’t peek inside Trump’s fevered mind, but it’s safe to assume, as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said, Trump “goes to bed every night, thinking about the sound of that jail cell door closing behind” him.
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Democracy Defenders Stress NY Trump Trial 'Is About Voter Deception'
"Trump engaged in criminal acts to cover up the truth just days before the 2016 election, and now he will finally face a jury of everyday Americans."
Apr 15, 2024
As former U.S. President Donald Trump's first of four potential criminal trials began in New York on Monday, progressive groups emphasized that what is often called a hush money case involving a porn star "is about voter deception."
Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November, faces 88 felony charges across the four cases. For this one, he was indicted by a New York grand jury last spring with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to alleged hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle.
The payments were made by Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer, to porn star Stormy Daniels, and by the tabloid The National Enquirer to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. The twice-impeached ex-president has pleaded not guilty.
"This case is about the allegation that Trump criminally hid information from voters to influence the outcome of the 2016 election," said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, in a statement Monday.
"You can draw a clear pattern from this election interference behavior to his more emboldened efforts to subvert the 2020 election, which led to the January 6th insurrection, a lasting stain on American democracy," she added, referring to the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack that some critics argue makes him constitutionally ineligible to hold office again. "Accountability for criminal deception of voters is absolutely necessary to ensure future candidates and public officials know they can't get away with this sort of conduct."
Gilbert stressed that "despite what Donald Trump and his allies may claim, no one is above the law—including a former president charged with serious crimes, and today marks the start of the legal system's chance to prove this point."
Stand Up America president and founder Sean Eldridge similarly celebrated that "Donald Trump will finally face accountability for falsifying his company's business records in order to conceal damning information from voters ahead of the 2016 election."
"Concealing secret payments and then lying in official filings to cover it up is a serious crime, which is why Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts," Eldridge said. "This case is a clear example of Trump's pattern of engaging in criminal behavior to cling to power and hide the truth from the American people. No one is above the law in the United States of America, including former presidents."
"A functioning democracy depends on voters having the information they need to pick their leaders," he continued. "Trump engaged in criminal acts to cover up the truth just days before the 2016 election, and now he will finally face a jury of everyday Americans."
This is the first criminal trial of a former American president. Monday featured a series of rulings from Judge Juan Merchan—who has rejected Trump's demands that he step away from the case—and the beginning of jury selection.
The New York Times reported that "the initial pool of prospective jurors dwindled rapidly. More than half of the first group of 96 were dismissed in short order after indicating that they did not believe they could be impartial. Court adjourned for the day roughly two hours after jury selection began, with zero jurors chosen."
In addition to the case in New York, Trump faces two federal cases—overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith because of Trump's 2024 campaign. One is about his mishandling of classified material and the other stems from his attempt to reverse the 2020 election results. The Republican also faces a Georgia case for interfering with the last presidential contest.
It is not clear whether any of the other three cases will go to trial before the November election. Trump is trying to claim presidential immunity to get the federal election charges dismissed and the U.S. Supreme Court—to which he appointed three justices—is set to hear arguments in that case on April 25.
Public Citizen is among the groups that last week submitted briefs to the high court criticizing Trump's claims. The watchdog's president, Robert Weissman, said that "Trump's legal theory defies common sense and would enable an almost limitless tyranny. Nothing in the Constitution—which aims to prevent tyranny—supports Trump's theory."
This post has been updated with the former president's 88 charges, reduced from 91 in March.
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Jury in Civil Case Finds Trump Sexually Abused, Defamed E. Jean Carroll
One prominent trial attorney called on New York lawmakers to "extend the CRIMINAL statute of limitations for sex crimes so Trump can be criminally prosecuted for the sexual abuse that this civil jury found Trump committed."
May 09, 2023
A civil jury in New York City on Tuesday found former U.S. President Donald Trump civilly liable for sexually abusing and defaming—but not raping—journalist E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages.
After two weeks of testimony and just under three hours of deliberation, the six-man, three-woman jury awarded Carroll $2 million in compensatory damages and $20,000 in punitive damages for sexual battery, and $1 million in compensatory damages, $1.7 million for reputational repair, and $280,000 in punitive damages for defamation.
Carroll alleged that Trump—a 2024 Republican presidential candidate—raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Midtown Manhattan in 1996 and then defamed her when he denied the accusation.
In denying the assault, Trump claimed to never have met Carroll, whom he called "mentally sick" and a "whack job" who is "not my type" in "any way, shape, or form."
The Associated Press reports:
The trial revisited the lightning-rod topic of Trump's conduct toward women.
Carroll gave multiple days of frank, occasionally emotional testimony, buttressed by two friends who told jurors she reported the alleged attack to them in the moments and day afterward.
Jurors also heard from Jessica Leeds, a former stockbroker who testified that Trump abruptly groped her against her will on an airplane in the 1970s, and from Natasha Stoynoff, a writer who said Trump forcibly kissed her against her will while she was interviewing him for a 2005 article.
Carroll smiled as the verdict was read and as she walked out of the Manhattan Federal Courthouse on Tuesday.
Trump—who did not appear at the trial—wrote on his Truth social media platform: "I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE—A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!"
Joe Tacopina, Trump's attorney, called the verdict "strange" and vowed to appeal.
"Obviously, [Trump is] firm in his belief, as many people are, that he cannot get a fair trial in New York City based on the jury pool, and I think one could argue that's probably an accurate assessment based on what happened today," Tacopina said during a press conference outside the courthouse.
More than two dozen women and a 13-year-old girl have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including rape and assault.
One month before the 2016 presidential election, a 2005 recording of Trump telling "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that "when you're a star," women let you "do anything" to them," including "grab 'em by the pussy" surfaced.
Asked during deposition by Carroll's lawyers if he believes the premise of his "Access Hollywood" comments—that powerful men could sexually assault women with impunity—is true, Trump said: "If you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately."
Trial attorney Lisa Bloom called on the New York Legislature to "extend the CRIMINAL statute of limitations for sex crimes so Trump can be criminally prosecuted for the sexual abuse that this civil jury found Trump committed."
Last May, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were older than 18 to sue their abusers—regardless of when the abuse occurred—during a one-year period.
Tuesday's verdict comes just over a month after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts involving alleged hush money payments during the 2016 election in bids to cover up sex scandals, including $130,000 given to porn star Stormy Daniels and $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock.
Rights defenders welcomed the jury's verdict.
"We are grateful to E. Jean Carroll for sharing her truth. We are in solidarity with her and survivors of sexual violence," UltraViolet tweeted.
"We know that sexual violence and rape culture is all around us, often perpetuated or carried out by those in positions of power. E. Jean Carroll is one of over 20 women who have come forward with stories of sexual assault by Donald Trump," the group added.
UltraViolet called on CNN to cancel a planned Trump town hall.
"When media outlets like CNN give Trump a platform, they do a disservice to all their viewers," the group wrote. "Contrary to the network's excuses, hosting a town hall with Trump isn't about hearing 'both sides.' It's a brazen ploy to seize ratings."
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Rejecting 'Brazen' Interference in Trump Criminal Case, New York DA Sues Jim Jordan
"Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction," reads the lawsuit.
Apr 11, 2023
Lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who as chair of the House Judiciary Committee has launched numerous attempts to interfere with the prosecution of former Republican President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit was filed a week after Bragg's office charged Trump with 34 felony counts stemming from his alleged "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
Jordan responded to the charges by issuing a subpoena to a former investigator in Bragg's office, Mark Pomerantz, calling on him to provide the Ohio Republican's committee with a closed-door deposition about the probe into Trump's alleged crimes.
The subpoena amounted to a "brazen and unconstitutional attack" by a close ally of Trump who is intent on waging a "transparent campaign to intimidate" the district attorney's office, Bragg's lawyers said in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York.
Bragg is seeking to bar Jordan from enforcing the subpoena and from demanding testimony from anyone else, including the district attorney himself.
"Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction," reads the lawsuit.
In addition to the subpoena, Jordan—along with Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who respectively chair the House Oversight, and Administration committees—sent letters last month to Bragg's office demanding documents regarding the investigation into Trump, claiming the House Judiciary Committee has the authority to oversee the case.
"Usually Republicans want a weak federal government," Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Tuesday. "Seems now they want a centralized system."
Jordan is also planning to hold a "field hearing" on April 17 in New York to investigate whether Bragg has inappropriately focused on prosecuting Trump—a 2024 presidential candidate—while failing to address crime in the city, which is down this year according to The New York Times.
" House Republicans' attempts to interfere in the prosecution of their political ally Donald Trump by a local DA are unprecedented and dangerous," said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It's good that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is not taking this lying down."
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