Last month, a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying business records, but Trump’s defense team “has several avenues of appeal,” legal experts told The Blaze News.
Following his guilty verdict in late May, Trump’s legal team immediately announced plans to challenge the verdict and expressed confidence it would be overturned.
“This is a ruling we expected to see. We intend to appeal. And we intend to win on appeal,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said.today“The show ended after the jury verdict was revealed. The goal is to appeal quickly and obtain a quick acquittal.”
Blanche noted that Trump did not expect to “get fair treatment in Manhattan.”
“I don’t believe this was a fair place to try President Trump, because all of the jurors knew Donald Trump as a presidential candidate from ‘The Apprentice,'” he said in an interview. CNN“The law doesn’t say, ‘But if it was inevitable, then it’s just bad luck.’ That’s what the law doesn’t say. The law says a person has a right to a fair trial before a jury. We believe that all of the circumstances surrounding the control of this trial made it extremely difficult for the jury to evaluate the evidence completely independent of what they knew before coming to trial.”
Grounds for Appeal
Mike Davis, Founder and President Article 3 Project“Mr. Trump has several appeal options available to him, including an appeal on the merits of the case and emergency relief from the judgment,” he told BlazeNews.
“The immediate focus is on obtaining a stay of execution,” Davis explained, adding that it was “highly likely” that Trump would win an emergency lawsuit and have the conviction overturned on appeal.
“An emergency petition could move very quickly. It could happen before Mr. Trump is actually in jail or detained,” he continued. “An appeal on the merits could take many months.”
Trump and his legal team have argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against the former president was “rigged,” pointing to the appointments of Acting Judge Juan Marchan and Matthew Colangelo, one of Bragg’s lead prosecutors.
in post Ahead of the jury’s verdict, Trump called the case a “highly political, unconstitutional, election interference witch hunt” on Truth Social.
Marchan’s daughter, Lauren, is president of a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm, and two of the firm’s Democratic clients have raised at least $93 million in campaign contributions, according to a Chicago Times report. New York PostThe client solicitation emails reference a lawsuit against Trump in New York, and the former president’s lawyers have argued that Judge Marchan’s daughter has a stake in the case, creating a conflict of interest.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chang described Marchan as “highly conflicted.”
“Unprecedented legal warfare and election interference that will end the Republic.”
Marchant was also set to preside over the criminal fraud trial of a former presidential adviser to President Trump. Steve BannonCNN recently reported that a different judge will be assigned to the case due to scheduling conflicts.
Criminal lawyer David W. Fischer told Blaze News that Trump’s “most salient issue on appeal is whether outside invoices from Michael Cohen and other sources constitute ‘business records’ under New York law.” Fischer has previously described this as one of the most straightforward strategies to get the case dismissed, and he believes this is the best approach to the appeal.
“Falsifying records means altering existing records to change the nature of the records,” Fisher said, “as opposed to adding false records to an enterprise.”
“The second biggest problem is that the jury was allowed to convict Trump without unanimously agreeing on which federal crimes they believe he committed,” Fischer told The Blaze News.
In his instructions, Judge Marchan told the jury that they did not have to be unanimous on whether “the defendants committed crimes personally or conspired with others to commit crimes, or both.” They were also told that they did not have to agree on the “unlawful” means, which could include violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, falsifying other business records or violating tax laws.
“We don’t have to come to a unanimous decision on what the illegal means were. We can look at violations of federal criminal statutes, falsifying other business records, violating tax laws, etc.,” Marchan told jurors.
Fisher told Blaze News that the appeals process in the New York case “is not likely to be resolved until 2025.”
President Trump called Colangelo, who served as the lead prosecutor in the New York criminal trial, a “Democratic Justice Department official,” noting his previous senior role at Biden’s Justice Department. Colangelo, who worked in the New York Attorney General’s office, oversaw the litigation that led to the shutdown of President Trump’s charities in 2018. He was also involved in the investigation of the Trump Organization.
Colangelo’s move from the Justice Department’s top job to Bragg’s team in 2022 was effectively a demotion, raising concerns that the transfer was politically motivated, given his previous role at the Justice Department and the allegations that the Biden administration was behind the prosecution of Trump in New York.
A letter obtained from the Biden administration’s Department of Justice Associated Press The department denied having any connection to Bragg’s case.
“The DA’s Offices are separate entities from the Department of Justice, which does not oversee the work of the DA’s Offices, approve their charging decisions, or try their cases,” Deputy Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote.
“The DA’s office has no control over the district attorney and the district attorney has no control over the DA’s office,” Uriarte added.
The House Judiciary Committee has opened an investigation into Colangelo’s appointment, and in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the committee chairman, requested “documents and communications” related to Colangelo and his “recruitment, hiring and firing” at the Justice Department.
Bragg and Colangelo are scheduled to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on Federal Weaponization on July 12, one day after Trump is scheduled to be sentenced to up to four years in prison in his New York criminal case. Jordan argues that Colangelo’s appointment to Bragg’s team “creates the impression that the Department of Justice is supporting a ‘politicized prosecution’ of Trump.”
Bragg’s office accused the committee of spreading false information.
“Spreading dangerous misinformation, unfounded allegations and conspiracy theories following a felony conviction by a jury in People v. Trump undermines the rule of law,” a spokesperson for Bragg’s office said. “That said, we respect the institution of government and plan to voluntarily appear before the subcommittee after the verdict.”
The prosecution’s star witness in the case, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, had criticized Trump and his campaign on social media before the trial and promoted T-shirts featuring Trump in prison. In his testimony, Cohen acknowledged that Trump had made about $1 million from the money. $4.4 million Cohen has been slamming Trump since he began appearing on podcasts and writing smear campaigns against him, and he has even admitted to repeatedly lying and stealing money from the Trump Organization.
Another key witness in the case, porn actress Stormy Daniels, also profited from the scandal by alleging an affair with Trump decades ago. Book Deals and again, Strip Club Tour She testified that she did not name the show, which was titled “Make America Hot Again.”
Marchant issued a gag order banning Trump from speaking publicly about anyone involved in the case or their families, except for the judge and District Attorney Bragg.
President Trump’s next steps
Davis told The Blaze News: “Trump should file civil lawsuits against all Biden Democrat prosecutors engaged in unprecedented republic-ending legal battles and election interference against Trump. State attorneys general in states like Florida and Georgia should open criminal investigations, as should the Maricopa County Attorney in Arizona. Congress should provide more aggressive oversight. If Trump returns to the presidency, the Department of Justice should open civil rights and other criminal investigations into the republic-ending legal battles waged by Biden and his aides and allies on his first day in office.”
Trump lawyer Will Schaer said last month that the former president’s legal teamConsider all options“We will appeal the conviction.”
“It’s weak legally, but it’s powerful public relations.”
“This case is riddled with reversible errors going back to day one, all the way down to the jury instructions. Every aspect of this case is open to appeal. We intend to appeal as quickly as possible. We intend to seek an expedited review of this case,” Scharf told Fox News.
“All options are on the table,” he continued, “and we are actively exploring all options that could potentially bring justice to President Trump, because justice has not been served in this New York courtroom today.”
Schaaf said Trump’s legal team was considering suing Bragg for “malicious prosecution,” noting that he believed the case was “extremely strong.”
“This is a lawsuit that has not been filed against a defendant other than Donald Trump, and frankly, a defendant who was not running for president,” Schaaf told Fox News.
“The case against Alvin Bragg is legally weak, but it would be a powerful public relations move for candidate Trump,” Fischer told Blaze News.
Ahead of Thursday night’s CNN presidential debate, Judge Marchan partially lifted a restrictive gag order against Trump, allowing him to publicly discuss witnesses including Cohen and Daniels. The gag order still bars Trump from speaking about Bragg’s team, Marchan’s daughter, or anyone else involved in the case.
During the debate, Trump argued that the New York lawsuit was a way for President Joe Biden to attack his political opponents.
“[Biden] “He was basically attacking a political opponent because he thought it would damage me,” Trump said, adding that his campaign had never raised more in donations than after the jury’s guilty verdict. “This case will be appealed and we will win.”
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