As soon Donald Trump entered the Manhattan courtroom today to attend his hush money criminal trial, the desperate ex-president once again tried to make it all go away by removing Judge Juan Merchan from the case. But the judge immediately shut him down.
"Right off the bat, the judge is addressing Trump's efforts to get him to recuse himself," CNN's Katilan Collins posted on X (see below).
But "Merchan says it's the opinion of the court that Trump is using a 'series of inferences, innuendos and unsupported speculation' to make his claims for recusal."
A judge is "obligated not to recuse himself when it's not called for," Merchan added, according to The Washington Post, who said Trump, in a last ditch effort to wriggle out of his criminal case, was "grasping at straws."