New York [US], May 10: The judge has for the second time rejected former US President Donald Trump's request to retry the case of paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The 14th day of trial of the criminal case against former President Trump ended when witness Stormy Daniels completed her testimony.
During the trial on May 9 in New York, Ms. Daniels' detailed testimony about the sexual encounter that allegedly happened with Mr. Trump in 2006 prompted the defendant to ask the court for a new trial because he thought the jury The delegation had to listen to stories of unfair prejudice against the former president, according to CNBC.
However, judge Juan Merchan rejected the defendant's motion for the second time, as well as a separate motion to withdraw the regulation prohibiting Mr. Trump from making statements aimed at witnesses, court staff, judge relatives. Mr. Trump has been fined many times for violating this regulation.
The former president's lawyer Todd Blanche said that Ms. Daniels made up a story when she detailed her relationship with Mr. Trump , but her client was not allowed to refute it so that voters watching the trial could hear. However, Judge Merchan said he had to protect the integrity of the proceedings and emphasized that he did not believe the defendant would not violate if the regulations were amended.
The judge also stated his reasons for denying the motion to declare the trial inadmissible, saying that the more specific information Ms. Daniels gives about the encounter, the more the jury can consider whether it happened or not. and decide whether to believe the witness or not.
According to CNN, when leaving the court, Mr. Trump criticized Judge Merchan as someone who was completely unfair and had a conflict of interest. "Look at his conflict, it's an insult to New York City, to New York state and to the country," the former White House owner said.
Mr. Trump was accused of spending $130,000 on Ms. Daniels right before the 2016 US Presidential election, to prevent the actress from making their relationship public. According to prosecutors, the former president's lawyer Michael Cohen gave the money to Ms. Daniels and was later returned by Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump denied all allegations, including having sex with Ms. Daniels.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper