Fact checking Trump’s remarks after historic conviction in “hush money” trial

Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan concluded Thursday with a historical convictionis at New York reviews On Friday morning, Trump continued to repeat false or misleading claims that framed the legal verdict as a partisan political attack.

CBS News fact-checked four of Trump’s claims about his trial Friday morning.

Claim 1: “This is all done by Biden and his people.”

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that President Biden was behind the Manhattan criminal trial: “They are in full concert with the White House and the DOJ, just so you understand,” Trump said on Friday morning, the day after his conviction. “All of this is done by Biden and his people.”

What do we know

This statement is false. Biden had no direct influence or power over the lawyers or judge involved in this case. Furthermore, the case was not brought by the US Department of Justice. It was brought by Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The trial did not take place in a federal court, but rather within the New York court system.

Claim 2: “I am now under a gag order, which no one has ever been under. No presidential candidate has ever been under a gag order before.”

On Friday, Trump said he is still under a gag order from Judge Juan Merchan, repeating what his lawyer, Todd Blanche, said in Fox News Thursday.

What we know:

CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson said Merchan had not yet lifted the gag order, as of Friday, the day after Trump’s conviction. Separately, Reuters reported that it will “probably suspend” the order.

Merchan gag order originally banned Trump only from speaking about witnesses and court officials, but was expandedApril 1 ban Trump from speaking about Bragg’s family and Merchan’s family after Trump repeatedly invoked Judge Merchan’s daughter on social media. Merchan said the order was necessary because some of Trump’s rhetoric could prevent jurors, lawyers and court staff from carrying out their duties in court.

Trump is allowed to criticize Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Merchan. The former president can also talk about the details of the case he criticizes or claim that the entire trial is political if he wishes.

So far, Trump violated his gag order 10 timesand was fined a total of $10,000.

Claim 3: “We have just had one of many experiences where we have had a conflicted, highly conflicted judge. There has never been a more conflicted judge.”

Trump attacked the impartiality of Judge Merchan, who oversaw the case, calling it a “conflict” at least seven times on Friday. Previously, he also claimed that Merchan’s daughter worked with top Democrats.

What we know:

This is an exaggeration by Trump.

Judge Merchan, who was randomly assigned to this case, done $35 in political contributions to Democrats through ActBlue in 2020, including $15 to Mr. Loren Merchan’s campaign, the judge’s daughter, has worked with some prominent Democrats through her role at a marketing firm called Authentic campaigns.

In 2023, Merchan asked the New York Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee to decide whether this presented a conflict. The panel warned Merchan because political contributions of any kind are prohibited under state judicial ethics rules. But they ruled Merchan’s ability to do his job was not affected.

Merchan therefore denied Trump’s request that he recuse himself – a decision that recently split the New York Appellate Division panel of judges sustained.

Claim 4: “When Bragg came in, he said ‘this is the most ridiculous case I’ve ever seen…’ When I announced I was running for president much later, they decided to revive this case.”

Trump has repeatedly attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who took the “hush money” case to trial. During his comments on Friday, Trump stated that Bragg did not intend to file a lawsuit against him until he announced his election.

What we know:

This statement is false.

Alvin Bragg took office in January 2022 and inherited the case from a previous prosecutor, Cyrus Vance Jr. reported that Bragg was confident by the summer of 2022 that he was moving forward with a prosecution and that he could convince a court that criminal charges for falsifying business records in this case were warranted. It wasn’t until fall 2022 that Trump announced he was running again.

Bragg was repeatedly targeted by Trump before and during the trial. CBS News has learned that Trump made or amplified this claim that billionaire investor George Soros donated to Alvin Bragg at least 54 times on Truth Social, including the day the verdict came when Trump called Bragg “Soros-backed” in a post.

While it is true that Soros donated US$1 million in May 2021 to a progressive racial justice group called Color of Change, and the group’s political arm subsequently supported Bragg, a Soros spokesperson told the New York Times that the two men had never met – nor had Soros given money directly to Bragg’s campaign.

Alan He and Paulina Smolinksi contributed to the report.