As the New York Appeals Panel that decides the appeal of Donald Trump of a fine of fraud of $ 480 million crawls to his second year, Governor Hochul is accused of using his power over state judges to implicitly threaten the president.
The White House sources claim that Hochul told Trump “I control the judges” an February meeting at the Oval Office to discuss policy issues such as Manhattan congestion tax.
Hochul emphatically denies the statement.
But the president said Fuentes, he received the conversation as an implicit threat related to his appeal against a civil fraud ruling in February 2024 by the judge of the Supreme Court of New York, Arthur Genoron, who ordered Trump to pay $ 364 million to rent hos $ 3 364 million for encouraging the terms of bank loan of H ..
A legal source familiar with the discussion of the Oval office said that the governor asked the president to withdraw his opposition to the congestion tax of $ 9 that he has imposed on New Yorkers, abandoned a gasoline pipe that favors and provides federal funds for wind projects and an update of Penn Station.
Hochul is making demands while “keeping the [appeal] Hanging on his head, “said the source.” It feels like extortion and blackmail. “
‘The Government never said this’
The governor’s spokesman, Avi Small, says that someone can have Mishard or lying, and is not Hochul.
“Governor Hochul has never said this, or anything similar, to President Trump or Nobody,” said Small. “The governor respects the independence of the Judiciary, has never tried to interfere in ongoing cases, and has no role to play in the judicial process, or said that she did it.
“Someone must have completely deceived the duration of the governor this conversation, or are lying on purpose to advance a political agenda.”
A senior official of the Trump administration said: “Or the course that would deny having tried to extort the president of the United States. Like Sheed supervises the weapon of justice in his own state.”
Meanwhile, a member of the Cabinet present at the one -hour meeting of the Oval office did not contradict the memory of the president of his conversation with Hochul, but could not provide details of what was said when he contacted the position.
Another source of the cabinet that did not attend the meeting said that Hochul has tried to congratate Trump offering to change the name of the Moynihan train room after him.
In response, Small told The Post that the governor considered the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan a “mentor” and that “under no circumstances would he propose that changing the name of Moynihan Train Hall.”
However, he added: “The governor made a cheerful joke on how to make President Trump be interested in contributing federal funds to renew the penn station.”
‘Dragging their heels’
The extraordinary 14 -month delay in deciding Trump’s appeal is almost three times longer than the average waiting in the New York Appeals Division, first department, according to legal experts.
“In the ordinary course, an appeal in the first department, decided between five and six months from the date on which a recurring presents an opening letter and a record,” says Senior Appeal Advisor Bill White of Counsel Press LLC.
Trump’s lawyers presented their appeal on February 26 of last year, and the court held an oral argument hearing in September.
“It is obvious that they are dragging their heels,” says the legendary litigating lawyer Joe Tacopina, who has acted for Trump in other cases.
He calls the 14 -month delay “crazy and obviously another” special treatment “for Trump.”
He said: “After an oral argument or presentation, the court generally issues a decision within a couple of months, he thought that sometimes he can take longer depending on the complexity of the case or the court file.”
A spokesman for the Secretary of the Appeals Division, first department, said: “We do not discuss the pending issues before the court.”
As governor since 2021, Hochul has the authority to appoint judges in several courts. The New York Single York Judicial Selection System gives you an extraordinary level of control that many other state governors, partly in the Appeals Division, where there is no need for confirmation of the Senate, which gives it a more direct influence.
Hochul did not appoint any of the five judges of the first department who decide the appeal of Trump: Dianne Renwick, David Friedman, Peter Maulton, John Higgitt and Llinét Pink.
However, Hochul raised Renwick to preside over justice in 2023, and the other judges trust Hochul to name them again every five years.
AG makes fun
The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, who Sed Trump, her company and her children, have made fun of the president in social networks about the accumulation of daily interests of $ 112,000 in their penalty, which now exceeds $ 480 million.
Trump’s lawyers were optimistic after their appeal was heard on September 26, 2024, when some of the judges expressed skepticism about the theory of the attorney general.
Judge Friedman questioned whether the AG office had used the same law “to alter a private commercial transaction,” noting that Trump’s transactions were with “some of the most sophisticated actors in business”, as Deutsche Bank.
He pointed out that no one “lost money.”
Judge Moulon said that “the immense penalty in this case is worrying” and said that “the parties left these happy transactions.”
Hey, he also questioned the “sprinkling of the mission” of the AG, wondering if the statute had “transformed into something that was not saying to do.
Judge Higgitt was worried that the AG could be “entering an area where jurisdiction is not made.”
But there has been a radio silence of the judges in the seven months since they made those promising comments.
Armed justice
If Trump wins, he will still be out of pocket for the costs incurred by ensuring the bonus required to present the appeal. In March, the Court of Appeals reduced the required bonus of $ 464 million (the total amount with interest at that time) to $ 175 million. The only way to recover its costs, which are probably several million dollars, will be for SAE the state of New York.
Trump’s lawyers accused James of arming the New York justice system to attack a political adversary and said that Judge Genoron demonstrated a “tangible and moisturizer” bias during the trial.
James campaigned in 2018 for the position of Attorney General about demolishing Trump, whom he called an “illegitimate president” and a “shame.”
In return, Trump has called it “racist prosecutor” who carries out a “witch hunt” against him.
Week after being inaugurated, the President stripped James of his security authorization, prohibiting access to classified information and entering federal facilities such as courts, federal prosecutors or FBI field offices.
Ironically, this week he was sent to the DOJ for criminal charges by the Federal Housing Finance Agency about the accusations that Mortgage Fraud committed when falsified records to terms of rethiable loans in their properties in Virginia and New York.
Live for the sword, than for the sword.