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Trump lawyers allege juror misconduct in New York criminal case
President-elect Donald Trump fired another salvo in his long-running effort to have his New York criminal conviction tossed, with his attorneys alleging earlier this month that there was juror misconduct during his trial.
In a previously undisclosed Dec. 3 letter to Justice Juan Merchan that was made public Tuesday, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote that there was “grave juror misconduct” in the proceedings in a Manhattan courtroom earlier this year.
However, heavy redactions in the letter and subsequent exchanges with prosecutors obscured almost all information about the accusations themselves.
“The jury in this case was not anywhere near fair and impartial,” they wrote.
Merchan on Tuesday directed Trump to make the redacted letter public, and instructed prosecutors to publish their own redacted responses. The judge also criticized Trump’s lawyers for making such serious allegations without sworn statements.
Prosecutors called the allegations “vague accusations of juror misconduct” in one of their responses. They claimed Trump’s attorneys did not want to have the allegations subject to investigation or a public hearing.
“Notwithstanding the import of their allegations, counsel do not request and in fact oppose a hearing at which their allegations could be fully examined, referring to such a hearing as ‘invasive fact-finding,'” wrote a prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Still, they argued such an investigation wasn’t yet appropriate.
“Counsel’s allegations fall far short of the standard required to request such a hearing in any event,” they wrote.
It is unclear if the allegations relate to a June 7 letter from Merchan that alerted prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys to a comment left on the court’s Facebook page the night before Trump’s conviction.
“My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted,” the user wrote. “Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!”
The person who made the comment had previously described themselves as a “professional s**tposter.”
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records, connected with a scheme to cover up a “hush money” payment to an adult film star. He pleaded not guilty and is contesting the conviction on multiple fronts.
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At “Evryman,” a weekend getaway in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, around 50 men gather to open up about struggles that men often bury — like loneliness.
“We can just be raw and real with each other,” said John, a participant from Connecticut.
Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared loneliness a national health epidemic, saying it poses risks as deadly as smoking. About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Murthy said in an 81-page report from his office.
The effects on men can be especially difficult to address due to gender-based stigma, Evryman co-founder Lucas Krump said.
“As men, we’ve traditionally been put in a box and given a very small range to express our emotions. There are a lot of men walking around, not necessarily overtly a loner, but feeling very lonely,” Krump said.
Roughly one in seven men say they have no close friends, according to data from the Survey Center on American Life.
Krump’s organization hopes to combat that crisis of connection by giving participants a safe space to share whatever they’re feeling.
“What men are really looking for is to belong. They want to be part of something,” Krump said.
For example, participants may open up about problems in their relationships and be surprised to find out that others are experiencing similar issues.
“There’s something about letting our guard down and having fun with the other guys. It’s hard to replace,” another participant said.
