Kamala Harris framing the presidential race as “prosecutor vs. felon” may have touched a nerve with Donald Trump.
Such framing is “false” and “inaccurate,” according to a new defense filing that asks the judge in his hush-money case to voluntarily step down prior to a pending sentencing that Trump has also challenged.
“Harris immediately framed her candidacy with a specific false reference to this case as a contest of ‘prosecutor vs. convicted felon,’” Trump’s filing complains.
Harris’s framing is an “inaccurate attack,” it adds, without describing an inaccuracy. Harris is the former district attorney for San Francisco and attorney general for California; in May, Trump became the first former president convicted of a felony.
Trump’s one-page letter, made public Thursday, is his third try at asking New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to recuse himself, this time as the case nears a sentencing tentatively set for September 18.
As did his earlier failed recusal attempts, this new one centers on the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, a political consultant who has worked for Democratic campaigns, including for Harris’s 2019 run for president.
Harris running now as Trump’s direct opponent adds new fuel to the recusal argument, defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove now write.
“In light of the long-standing and extremely beneficial working relationship between Your Honor’s daughter and Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently became the presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democrat Party, we respectfully submit this pre-motion letter to renew our request that the Court recuse itself,” the letter begins.
Trump is “the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election,” Blanche and Bove continue.
And Harris, “emerged as his presumptive opponent after it became apparent to the public that the Biden Administration’s lawfare against President Trump was motivated by President Biden’s alarming decline.”
Trump’s letter complains that his now four-month-old gag order, which he has also challenged, somehow prevents him from freely addressing Harris’s “prosecutor vs. felon” gibes.
“Your Honor has insisted on maintaining an unconstitutional Gag Order, backed by threats of imprisonment made during the trial, that prevents President Trump from responding fully to that inaccurate attack,” the letter says.
The gag bars Trump from attacking by name a limited set of people involved in the trial, including jurors, prosecutors, court staff, and their families.
The gag was upheld on Thursday by a mid-level New York appellate court.
Trump’s letter to the judge also complains that Merchan’s daughter “has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns.”
The letter continues, “She has obtained—and stands to obtain in the future—extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris.”
Prosecutors have yet to respond. In addition to the recusal request, Trump has also asked Merchan to throw out the hush money case in its entirety on US Supreme Court presidential-immunity grounds.
Merchan has said that he will issue a decision on that request on September 6.
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