Trump Suggests Manhattan DA Case Be Moved to Staten Island

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump suggested that his ongoing criminal case related to a payment made during the 2016 presidential election cycle be moved from Manhattan, New York City to Staten Island. He believes this venue would be more secure and fair for his trial. Trump claims that Manhattan is an unfair venue with some areas voting only 1 percent Republican.

According to data analysis, Staten Island has been shown to be the most Republican-leaning of New York City’s five boroughs. Approximately 57 percent of voters in Staten Island cast their ballots for Trump during the 2020 presidential election while Biden received 42 percent of the vote. 

The former president commented that the judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan, is a “highly partisan judge” and believes the case should be moved because of a potential assumption of biased judgment. Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, however, said that filing motions to move the venue at this point would be premature.

Reports indicate that the indictment against Trump is for allegedly misclassifying a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. The indictment in the case has not been unsealed yet. Tacopina has stated that the legal team’s plan is to file motions to dismiss the case.

On Sunday, Tacopina told ABC’s “This Week” that the discussion of the venue change is too early since there has been “no discussion of that whatsoever”.

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent attorney and retired Harvard Law professor, suggested that the trial against the former president should be moved to Staten Island or to upstate New York to avoid a biased jury pool. Only 9 percent of registered voters in Manhattan are Republicans, while Trump only won about 12 percent of the vote in Manhattan during the 2020 contest.

Trump also mentioned in his post on Truth Social that a previous judge, Juan Merchan, presided over a criminal case involving former Trump Organization official Allen Weisselberg, who received a five-month prison term, and that Judge Merchan was a disaster on a previous Trump-related case. Furthermore, he claimed that Merchan’s family are well-known Trump haters and that the judge’s daughter had been employed by Kamala Harris and the Biden-Harris campaign.

Trump had previously insisted that his case be heard by the Supreme Court, but without success. His team is facing many legal issues that they will have to grapple with before it is even possible to discuss a change of venue.