President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers have accused a juror in his New York hush money trial of misconduct as they continue to seek to overturn his historic conviction in the case. But it’s unclear what the nature of their claim is, and Manhattan prosecutors have said that the letter contains no sworn allegations.
In a Dec. 3 letter released Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove allege there was “evidence of grave juror misconduct during the trial” that “serves as yet another reason that the verdicts in this case cannot and should not stand.”
The letter, as it was released to the public, is heavily redacted and does not reveal any details about the alleged misconduct or the identity of the juror. Blanche and Bove told NBC News they wrote the letter after a juror in the case reached out to them. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
“This behavior is completely unacceptable and it demonstrates without question that the verdicts in this case are as unreliable as DA Bragg’s promise to protect Manhattanites from violent crime,” they wrote.
Manhattan prosecutors responded Dec. 5 that the letter “contains no sworn allegations of fact whatsoever.” They pointed out that Blanche and Bove oppose a hearing regarding the allegations and are instead asking the court to “accept their untested, unsworn allegations as true.”
On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan replied that he cannot decide either way, as the court “is prohibited from deciding such claims on the basis of mere hearsay and conjecture.” However, he wrote that the court may consider Trump’s lawyers’ claim if they file a motion to dismiss the verdict on the grounds of juror misconduct. “Such a motion,” he wrote, “‘must contain sworn allegations.’” Trump’s lawyers have tried multiple tactics to get his New York criminal case dismissed. So far, all of their efforts have failed; on Monday, Merchan rejected Trump’s motion to overturn his conviction on presidential immunity grounds, prompting the president-elect to rage against the judge on Truth Social.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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