"The poll numbers are up because people know what's going on," said former and perhaps future president Donald J. Trump before opening arguments began in his New York criminal trial on Monday. In an indictment brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Trump stands accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records, all of which are time-barred under New York law but have been elevated to a felony prosecution on the untested legal theory that they were committed to advance what prosecutors claim was a "conspiracy to promote" Trump's election in 2016.

The presiding judge, Juan Merchan, donated in 2020 to President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection against Trump, and to another anti-Trump cause that year. Merchan's daughter Loren is president of a Democrat-aligned political consulting firm whose clients include Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who prosecuted Trump's first impeachment trial, and a major Democratic Party fundraising PAC for senatorial candidates.

Despite these apparent conflicts of interest, Merchan has on multiple occasions refused to recuse himself from the case.........

© Newsweek