Daniels’ testimony ‘irrelevant’ in Trump trial: Dupree
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree, Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn and Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz join “The Faulkner Focus” to weigh in as Stormy Daniels takes the witness stand in the NY v. Trump trial.
FIRST ON FOX: The prosecutor from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office leading the questioning of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in former President Trump’s criminal trial had donated to President Biden’s campaign in 2020 and a number of other Democrat politicians and organizations over the years, Fox News Digital has learned.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questioned Daniels on Tuesday as she testified as part of the unprecedented criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
Trump defense attorneys told Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday afternoon that they would motion for a mistrial amid Daniels’ “prejudicial” testimony. Hoffinger said the claim was without basis, and Merchan ultimately denied the defense’s request.
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Hoffinger’s donations to Biden came during the 2020 Democrat presidential primaries, Federal Election Commission records show.
This courtroom sketch shows Stormy Daniels being questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger during former President Trump’s criminal trial in New York City on May 7, 2024. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
Hoffinger donated $500 to Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020: a donation of $250 in February 2020 and another donation of $250 in March 2020. She donated more than $900 to ActBlue during the 2020 cycle. ActBlue is an online fundraising platform for Democrat candidates, progressive organizations and nonprofits.
The prosecutor also donated to a number of other Democrat congressional campaigns in 2020 and 2018. Hoffinger was hired by Bragg’s office in 2022 after the political contributions were made.
The revelations come as Republicans investigate alleged politicization of the case against Trump.
“Joe Biden’s witch hunt against President Donald Trump happening in New York City is blatant election interference,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “The lead Democrat prosecutor is a donor to Joe Biden just like the judge.”
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Merchan donated $15 to Biden’s campaign in July 2020. He also made small donations to other Democrat groups in 2020.
Stefanik told Fox News Digital that “Democrats know they cannot defeat President Trump at the ballot box and have resorted to a desperate lawfare campaign in hopes of saving Joe Biden.”
“The American people can see through this, and that is why President Trump will win come November,” Stefanik said.
Fox News Digital first reported that another top prosecutor on Bragg’s team was paid by the Democratic National Committee for his “political consulting” work.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/File)
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo joined Bragg’s office after the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, the prosecutors who were investigating Trump and resigned in protest of Bragg’s initial unwillingness to indict the former president. Colangelo left a senior role at the Biden Justice Department to join Bragg’s team. Bragg afterward brought charges against the former president in April 2023, raising questions among some in the GOP about alleged politicization of the case.
House Republicans are investigating Colangelo and his past work as he prosecutes Trump.
This courtroom sketch shows Stormy Daniels being questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger during former President Trump’s criminal trial in New York City on May 7, 2024. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
According to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by Fox News Digital, DNC Services Corp/Democratic National Committee paid Colangelo twice on Jan. 31, 2018. Colangelo was given two payments of $6,000, for a total of $12,000.
The “description” for the purpose of payment is labeled “Political Consulting.”
Neither the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office nor the DNC responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about Colangelo’s work.
At the time, Colangelo was serving in then-New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman’s office as the deputy attorney general for social justice, assuming the role from Bragg who, at the time, was appointed as chief deputy attorney general.
Schneiderman resigned in May 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault. Barbara Underwood replaced him as New York attorney general.
Just months after Colangelo received the payments from the DNC, in June 2018, Underwood, with Colangelo as executive deputy attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. The lawsuit alleged that Trump used the foundation’s charitable assets to pay off his legal obligations. The Trump Foundation ultimately agreed to dissolve in December 2018.
This courtroom sketch shows Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche speaking from the podium beside prosecutor Matthew Colangelo during a hearing in a Manhattan courtroom in New York City on June 27, 2023. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
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Colangelo joined Bragg’s office in December 2022.
Prior to his work in New York and the Biden Justice Department, Colangelo worked in the Obama administration in a number of different roles. Colangelo worked in the DOJ’s civil rights division and served as the chief of staff to then-Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who later served as chair of the DNC in 2017. Perez was DNC chair at the time Colangelo was paid for “political consulting.”
Colangelo also worked as a deputy assistant to then-President Obama and as the deputy director of the White House Economic Council.
Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.
A charge of falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor, but Bragg, Colangelo and New York prosecutors must convince the jury that Trump falsified those records in the furtherance of “another crime.”
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Prosecutors suggest that the other crime was in violation of a New York State law: conspiracy to prevent or promote election. On its face, as a stand-alone offense, that charge is also typically a misdemeanor.
Coupling the alleged falsification of business records with alleged prevention or promotion of election becomes a felony crime, according to Bragg.
