The former president of the United States Donald Trump was charged by the United States Attorney’s Office in the framework of the investigation against him for the alleged payment of a bribe to the porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.“For the first time in our nation’s history, a president has been indicted. I take comfort in validating the adage that no one is above the law, not even a former president. Today’s impeachment is not the end of this chapter, but the beginning,” said former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
After this news was released, CNN reported that Colombian judge Juan Manuel Merchán was appointed as the magistrate who will receive former President Donald Trump on April 4, when he appears before a New York court.
Specifically, his appointment with the judge will be at 2:15 p.m. local time, a visit that has generated enormous expectations in the international political world, and for this reason, the court has canceled other less important ones to avoid the transit of people in the building by safety reasons.
Also read: Donald Trump will travel to New York on Monday to appear Tuesday afternoon before the judge
Juan Manuel Merchán is a 60-year-old Colombian lawyer who settled in the United States when he was 8 years old because of his parents’ work. Merchán, who serves as a district judge for Manhattan, took office in 2009. In addition, he has presided over high-profile cases in the district since 2012.
According to the New York Times, his father, who served in Colombia in the military and had been part of the intelligence services, dedicated himself to washing dishes in Manhattan, while his mother worked in zipper and toy factories.
The same media outlet in the United States pointed out that Juan Manuel Merchán worked carrying food, washing dishes in restaurants and distributing meat. Later, he was a hotel night manager. According to the New York Law Journal, Merchán graduated from Baruch College with a business degree in 1990, and subsequently graduated from Hofstra University School of Law in 1994.
Thus, Merchán accumulates 28 years of experience in the judicial stands, 13 of which have been held in the New York County Supreme Court. In the American media, he has revealed that the reason for choosing him was his good nose for finding inconsistencies, as well as his ability to maintain order in the room.
But Donald Trump was dissatisfied with the choice of the Colombian togado and maintained that “he is a judge assigned to his witch hunt who hates me.” “This is Juan Manuel Merchán, handpicked by the New York attorney general, Alvin Bragg and his prosecutors (…) Merchán treated my companies, which never came to an ‘agreement’, with real fury. It’s a shame,” added the former president on his Truth social network.
Trump’s statements have to do with the fact that Juan Manuel Merchán was the same judge who was in charge of the process against him for tax fraud. On that occasion, Merchán requested documents from the prosecutors in the case to determine if the said crime took place or not.
After a series of subpoenas, in which Donald Trump‘s organization failed to deliver the requested documents, Merchán determined that the court order was intentionally disobeyed and sentenced him for contempt. Thus, the magistrate found the Trump organization guilty of tax fraud, the first time that the magnate and his companies have been convicted of these charges.
