Raw Story

Former President Donald Trump has been allowed to move forward with a complaint to the court in the Manhattan hush money case, demanding the recusal of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan.

The complaint, which spans 35 pages, lists a number of grievances that Trump has with the judge, including yet another attack on the judge's daughter, who he has repeatedly made a bogeyman in posts on social media.

"Your Honor’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a direct financial interest in these proceedings by virtue of her ownership stake and leadership role at Authentic Campaigns, Inc. Based on public disbursements data, Authentic, which services exclusively Democrat [sic] clients, is the #21 ranked vendor in the country in connection with the 2024 election," wrote Trump's attorneys. "President Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee and leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election."

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters

The complaint went on that Trump's "success in the primaries, which followed the Court’s ruling on the previous recusal motion, has cemented his status as a political target of Authentic, Ms. Merchan, and their clients."

Trump's attorneys also listed a number of other arguments, including that some Democratic candidates that worked with that vendor have issued fundraising solicitations that mention Trump's indictment, and the fact that Judge Merchan gave a media interview in which he said he wanted "to make sure that I’ve done everything I could to be prepared and to make sure that we dispense justice."

This comes after a lengthy process in which Trump and several of his co-defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case filed similar challenges, based on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' romantic relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade. Following a fraught ethics hearing, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee determined that Willis could remain on the case as long as Wade resigned, which he promptly did.

Special Counsel Jack Smith in a near-midnight filing Tuesday responded to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's request to "engage with" two possible scenarios for jury instructions in the Espionage Act case against Donald Trump even before she has set a trial date.

Legal experts say Smith had no choice but to respond as strongly as he did given that Cannon's proposed jury instructions are – they and Smith say – "“fundamentally flawed," and based on a misinterpretation of law. Some noted if the case were to go to trial under a false legal theory held by the judge, the special counsel could not appeal any possible "not guilty" verdict.

"It's unusual for [federal] prosecutors to be this aggressive with a judge & well warranted here. She left them with no other choice," observes professor of law, MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst, and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. "The Special Counsel cites law from the 11th Circuit's sister circuit, the Fifth, that lets them bring a writ of mandamus asking the appellate court to correct a district judge's decision to use a clearly erroneous jury instruction that could lead to acquittal."

READ MORE: Florida in Play? Biden and Strategists Say Yes as Court Puts Abortion, Marijuana on Ballot

Vance also says Smith had to "spoon feed" Judge Cannon.

MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner says acquittal is Cannon's goal: "In a new court filing, Jack Smith goes directly after Judge Cannon’s lawless proposed jury instructions. And he threatens to appeal (mandamus) her. He’s right - Cannon is trying to nefariously orchestrate an acquittal for Trump."

In his filing Smith threatened he would go over Cannon's head to ask the higher court rule against her, to avoid a faulty acquittal.

"In Jack Smith’s blistering filing yesterday on Judge Cannon’s aberrant proposed jury instructions, Jack tells her she 'must' rule 'promptly' so he can weigh appellate options," writes Lawfare senior editor Roger Parloff.

"Extraordinary late night filing by Special Counsel Smith sets forth how Judge Aileen Cannon could doom the prosecution by delaying ruling on her legally flawed jury instructions until after the trial starts (when Double Jeopardy attaches) thus depriving prosecution of any ability to cure," writes former federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu.

READ MORE: Johnson: J6 Rioters and Insurrectionists Just ‘Happened to Be Walking Through the Building’

The Special Counsel's Office "team explicitly states that this kind of scenario is what a writ of mandamus exists to address - implicitly warning Cannon that they view her position as not only indefensibly flawed legally but saying the quiet part aloud that that they are on to the possibility that the timing of her ruling could be substantively fatal to successful prosecution of Trump - ever," he continued. "Now the question becomes whether Judge Cannon will quickly rule or delay further."

National security attorney Brad Moss says, "Jack Smith puts Cannon on notice that he has had enough with his weird game," apparently referring to Trump's legal strategy of invoking the Presidential Records Act as a defense. "The PRA angle is a question of law, not fact, and if she believes Trump’s PRA defense she should grant his motion and let Smith take this to the 11th circuit already."

"Oh," Moss adds, "and they make clear Tom Fitton [i]s the source of Trump’s ridiculous legal theories, as all the reporting made clear ages ago."

Fitton is conservative activist Tom Fitton, who is not an attorney but a right-wing pro-Trump activist, president of Judicial Watch, and reportedly a member of the far-right Council for National Policy.

Former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason, who teaches white collar crime law at The George Washington University Law School adds more insight into the Fitton connection.

"One interesting thing in this pleading is the history of how the bogus defense that these were personal records Trump was allowed to keep was invented by Judicial Watch and shared in a Tweet w/ Trump, who then adopted it even though his own people said it was wrong."

Politico's Kyle Cheney sums up Smith's filing.

"Prosecutors are emphatic: Trump's treatment of presidential/personal records is both a 'fiction' he invented belatedly (at urging of Tom Fitton) to justify keeping records he was plainly not authorized to have," Cheney writes. "And whether he designated them 'personal' is irrelevant."

MSNBC host and legal contributor Katie Phang writes, "Judge Cannon has been given fair warning over and over again by Special Counsel Jack Smith. I guess some folks have to learn the hard way."

NYU Law professor, MSNBC legal analyst, and former FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissman, suggesting a three strikes rule, says Judge Cannon could be removed from the case. He writes that if Smith's motion "gets to the 11th Circuit, it will both reverse Cannon again -- AND I think it will remove her from the case- 3 reversals is more than enough for this inexperienced judge, who gets the law wrong and always in Trump's favor."

READ MORE: Buttigieg Schools Fox News Reporter Upset Biden Is ‘Shoving’ EVs ‘Down Consumers’ Throats’

The first Black-owned children's book store in North Carolina is moving location amid repeated violent threats made against it.

Local news station WRAL reports that Raleigh's Liberation Station Bookstore, which opened last year on Juneteenth, aimed to offer a wide variety of children's books that were drawn and illustrated by Black authors.

However, the store was soon bombarded by racist threats.

The store's owner, Victoria Scott-Miller, told WRAL that she and her family sometimes didn't take the threats too seriously, but that they were finally pushed over the edge by a menacing message that targeted her 13-year-old son, who helps the family run the store.

"Since September, we’ve faced numerous threats following the opening of our store," Scott-Miller revealed in an Instagram post. "Some we brushed off, while others included a disturbing phone call detailing what our son Langston wore when he was at the shop alone."

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why Judge Cannon must step away from Trump trial immediately

Scott-Miller said she doesn't want to be seen as a martyr for the anti-racist cause, although she did lament that "we live in a country that has given permission to the nameless and faceless people to make threats and cause harm, emotional harm."

The bookstore owner hasn't revealed any future location but vowed to continue being a book vendor in the community.

At the moment, she told WRAL, the plan is to "go back to the drawing board to reassess and redefine what we will need in our next location."

She also described her vision of the bookstore as an important place in the community for people to visit.

"It is a sanctuary," Scott-Miller said. "It is a home. It’s church. It is your grandmama’s dinner table."

Liberation Station at the moment plans to remain open until April 13th.

US private sector hiring came in well above expectations last month, payroll firm ADP said Wednesday, with construction, financial services and manufacturing all contributing to the increase.

Private sector employment rose by 184,000 in March, ADP said in a statement. This was sharply above market predictions of 150,000 new jobs, according to Briefing.com.

ADP also revised up the February jobs data, from 140,000 to 155,000.

The hot jobs data will be well-received by the Biden administration as it seeks to talk up the president's economic record ahead of November's presidential election.

But it also signals to the Federal Reserve -- which is locked in a years-long battle against high inflation -- that the labor market remains in a good place, reducing the likelihood of an early start to interest rate cuts.

"March was surprising not just for the pay gains, but the sectors that recorded them," ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement.

"The three biggest increases for job-changers were in construction, financial services, and manufacturing," she added.

The construction sector created 33,000 new jobs, buoyed by recent industrial policies like the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, while the financial services sector added 17,000 new positions, and manufacturing was responsible for 1,000 jobs.

Other sectors that created large numbers of new positions included the leisure and hospitality sector, the trade, transportation and utilities.

ADP's data showed that pay was up 5.1 percent year-over-year for those who remained in their jobs, and by 10.0 percent for those who switched.

"Inflation has been cooling, but our data shows pay is heating up in both goods and services," Richardson said.

ADP's figures come two days ahead of US government data on US hiring, which will help to paint a clearer picture of the health of the overall labor market.

"Our base case remains that the labor market is likely to loosen on the effects of restrictive monetary policy," High Frequency Economics chief US economist Rubeela Farooqi wrote in a note to clients after the ADP data were published.

"But we expect job growth to remain positive and expect the unemployment rate to remain low, as monetary conditions become less tight on Fed rate cuts this year," she added.

Fox News host Maria Bartiromo highlighted revenue losses suffered by Donald Trump's Truth Social platform.

During a Sunday interview with Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, Bartiromo reviewed the company's financial condition.

"President Trump's media company has had a volatile two weeks," she noted. "The stock finished down about 30% this week. The company, which operates Trump's Truth Social platform, lost $4 billion in market value after gaining six billion in value during its debut on the Nasdaq two weeks ago."

"For 2023, Trump media posted a loss of $58 million on revenue and $4.1 million [profit] in a regulatory filing," she continued. "The company also disclosed that its auditor had raised concerns about its ability to continue operating before its recent merger and IPO."

The Fox News host then welcomed Nunes.

"I was looking at the filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the loss," Bartiromo said. "When would you expect this company to turn profitable?"

ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters

Nunes blamed the losses on overregulation.

"So even if you take the ridiculous cost that it took us to get to this point, we are well positioned," he said. "Because we have no debt. We're coming out of this with no debt, a platform that works really, really well, that communicates to millions of people. And then we have $200 million in the bank."

"There's never been a company like this," he added. "And we're really the only game in town that can accomplish this."

"Those are all the issues that we're that we're focused on and including, you know, making sure that we're dealing with like a three-year plan here where we can go out and put this whole company together where we're not relying on big tech."

Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link..

With six months to go before the 2024 election, the House Republican leadership is busy putting out fires and encouraging members of their caucus that things will get better so they should stick around.

According to a report from the Washington Post, there is a severe morale problem among House Republicans who are tired of the chaos that has led to the ousting of previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and the back-biting that has led to a whopping 21 lawmakers who are leaving — five of whom who are bailing before the election.

That, along with the ouster of Rep. George Santos (R-NY), has left the GOP with the slimmest of margins and is creating headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) who is also facing calls for his demotion as the House leader.

ALSO READ: Lauren Boebert’s high school has canceled the congresswoman

What worries Republicans even more is the possibility more members will announce their departure and then step down immediately handing possible control of the chamber to the Democrats.

Johnson was candid about his dismay of a declining majority, stating in an interview: “We’ve got to be ready to govern, and we’re going to turn this mess around 180 degrees, but we’ve got to get through this difficult valley to get to that other side.”

According to the Post, former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co), who has already stepped aside, claimed there could be more to follow him.

“This is a dysfunctional place and I’m not making an observation that others haven’t made,” he admitted.

"The decision to step back is yet another sign of the broader drop in morale within the GOP conference. Many Republican lawmakers have largely accepted that their inability to govern is a predicament of their own making. They acknowledge that overcoming their legislative impasse relies on not just keeping control of the House in November, but growing their ranks significantly to neutralize the handful of hard-liners who wield influence by taking advantage of the narrow margins," The Post is reporting before adding, "But many also continue to say privately what few have acknowledged publicly: Republicans believe they are likely to lose the majority."

You can read more here.