Trump Suggests Manhattan DA Case Be Moved to Staten Island

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower the day after FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach home, in New York on Aug. 9, 2022. David 'Dee' Delgado/Reuters

Former President Trump on Tuesday suggested his criminal case over a payment made during the 2016 election cycle be moved from Manhattan to Staten Island.

“Very unfair venue, with some areas that voted 1 percent Republican. This case should be moved to nearby Staten Island ... would be a very fair and secure location for the trial,” Trump wrote in all-caps on Truth Social ahead of his slated arraignment.

The former president also criticized the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, who had presided over a criminal case involving former Trump Organization official Allen Weisselberg, who received a five-month prison term. Merchan, he wrote, is a “highly partisan judge” and that “his family are well-known Trump haters.”

“He was an unfair disaster on a previous Trump-related case,” Trump wrote, referring to the Weisselberg conviction, and added that he “wouldn’t recuse” himself. The former president then wrote that “his daughter worked for ‘Kamala’ (Harris) and now the Biden-Harris campaign.”

Staten Island is generally considered the most Republican-leaning of New York City’s five boroughs. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) currently represents the area, while Trump received 57 percent of Staten Island’s vote during the 2020 election, and President Joe Biden received 42 percent, data shows.

Meanwhile, some conservative commentators last week noted that pro-Trump memester Douglass Mackey was subject to a jury trial at a federal court in Brooklyn, an overwhelmingly Democrat-voting area, and further alleged that he received an unfair trial due to a biased jury pool. Mackey, known as “Ricky Vaughn,” was convicted of election interference during the 2016 presidential race and faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

Reports indicate that Trump will be indicted for allegedly misclassifying a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. The indictment in the case has not been unsealed yet.

Trump’s attorney in the payment case, Joe Tacopina, has said that filing motions to move the venue to Staten Island is premature. The lawyer said that there has been “no discussion of that whatsoever” when asked during an ABC News interview on Sunday.

“It’s way too premature to start worrying about venue changes until we really see the indictment and grapple with the legal issues,” Tacopina told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. But Tacopina has said the legal team plans on filing motions to dismiss the case.

Protesters outside the New York County Criminal Court ahead of former President Donald Trump's arraignment on April 4, 2023. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

Protesters outside the New York County Criminal Court ahead of former President Donald Trump's arraignment on April 4, 2023. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

Prominent attorney and retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz told Fox News last week 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.

“This case has to get out of Manhattan. Will it get out of Manhattan? We don’t know,” Dershowitz told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, noting that any member of the Manhattan jury who votes against convicting Trump could face ostracization from their peers. “I would try to move it to Staten Island or some upstate venue.”

On Monday, Trump returned to his Trump Tower in Manhattan after arriving at LaGuardia Airport via his private jet.

Late last week, Tacopina said that Trump will not be pleading guilty and that there is “zero chance” he will take a plea deal in the case. “One thing I can assure you as I sit here today is there will be no guilty plea in this case,” he told ABC News. “That is one thing I can guarantee you.”

Trump also won’t be placed in handcuffs and will be processed the way anyone else would be, to a degree—again, with Secret Service involvement,“ he remarked. ”I think there will be a typical processing, which does not take long ... 20, 30 minutes,“ he said. ”And then we'll appear before a judge, you know, deal with a couple issues right off the bat and it won’t be a long day in court.”

The lawyer also suggested that the judge probably will not place a gag order on Trump due to his status as the leading GOP presidential candidate for 2024’s election. He’s expected to face his arraignment on Tuesday, and by then, the indictment in the case should be unsealed.

“It can’t happen in this case,” he added. “The defendant is the leading Republican candidate for the office of the president of the United States and will be campaigning. Hard to put a gag order when he’s going to be fielding questions about his current legal situation.”