Trump pushes back with ‘powerhouse’ legal challenge in Manhattan DA case
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s legal team filed a “powerhouse” appeal in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him, demanding the verdict be thrown out and that the “most politically charged prosecution in our Nation’s history,” as they called it, be dismissed altogether.
Fox News Digital obtained the 111-page appeal filed in New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division late Monday night.
Sullivan & Cromwell’s Robert J. Giuffra Jr. is representing the president in the matter.
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Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree but was found guilty in May after a six-week unprecedented criminal trial in New York in 2025.
New York v. Trump is on a halt until 2029.
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“President Trump’s legal team filed a powerhouse appeal in the Manhattan DA’s Witch Hunt, as the President continues his fight to put an end to the Radical Democrat Lawfare once and for all,” a spokesman for the president’s legal team told Fox News Digital.
“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately overturned and dismissed,” the Trump spokesman continued.
“President Trump will keep defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn as he focused on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.”
The 111-page filing details Giuffra’s argument for complete dismissal and reversal.
“This is the most politically charged prosecution in our Nation’s history,” the filing states. “After years of fruitless investigation into decade-old, baseless allegations — and under immense political pressure to criminally charge President Donald J. Trump for something—New York’s district attorney (DANY) manufactured felony charges against a once-former and now-sitting President of the United States. The DA, a Democrat, brought those charges in the middle of a contentious Presidential election in which President Trump was the leading Republican candidate.”
Trump’s legal team called the charges against Trump “as unprecedented as their political context.”
“Targeting alleged conduct that has never been found to violate any New York law, the DA concocted a purported felony by stacking time-barred misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory, which the DA then improperly obscured until the charge conference,” the filing states. “This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction.”
Trump’s lawyers are asking the court to “now reverse.”
“Federal law expressly preempts DANY’s misdemeanor-turned-felony charges because those charges rest on an alleged violation of federal campaign regulations that States cannot (and have never) enforced,” the filing states. “The trial was fatally marred by the introduction of 2 official Presidential acts that the Supreme Court has made clear cannot be used as evidence against a President.”
Trump’s lawyers went on to argue that “the jury was instructed incorrectly, allowing a conviction without the unanimity required by both New York law and basic due process.”
“Beyond these fatal flaws, the evidence was clearly insufficient to convict,” the filing states. “In addition to all this overwhelming error, the trial was conducted by a judge who refused to recuse himself despite having made political contributions to President Trump’s electoral opponents and despite having disqualifying family conflicts. For each of these independent reasons, President Trump’s conviction must be set aside.”
Trump’s attorneys also noted that the review of the by federal prosecutors in 2021 led to “no actions against President Trump even after he left office in 2021,” which “should have barred any prosecution” in the Manhattan district attorney’s efforts.
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Trump attorneys also argued that the trial court violated the presidential evidentiary immunity confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which bars the “use of evidence about” a president’s official acts while in office.
“The jury improperly heard extensive testimony about at least four different kinds of official acts by President Trump,” the filing states, including discussions between the president and the White House communications director in the Oval Office over the White House’s response to allegations of presidential wrongdoing; official presidential statements on social media; alleged discussions between the president and the attorney general about the enforcement of federal campaign regulations; and the president’s practices in discharging his presidential duties, including from the Situation Room.
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“The U.S. Supreme Court mandated that violations of Presidential evidentiary immunity require automatic reversal of a conviction without any harmless-error analysis,” the filing states. “Even if such analysis were applied, the introduction of the prohibited testimony—which DANY repeatedly relied on and called ‘devastating’ in its summation, A7815—was far from harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Trump attorneys also argued that the trial court “erred in instructing the jury that it could convict President Trump of having conspired to ‘promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means,’ Election Law § 17-152, without unanimously agreeing on what those ‘unlawful means’ actually were.”
“Instead, the court permitted the jury to convict if some jurors believed only that President Trump had conspired to violate FECA, while others believed only that he had conspired to help others commit tax fraud, and still others believed only that he had conspired to help others make false statements to a 5 bank. Due process and Section 17-152 do not permit a conviction based on such a haphazard ‘combination of jury findings,’” the filing states.
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Trump lawyers also said the district attorney “had no proof that President Trump ever had the ‘intent to defraud’ expressly required by the business-records statute.”
“There was zero evidence that President Trump intended to deprive anyone of money or property, and in fact no such deprivation occurred,” the filing states. “Having no other choice, DANY advanced the flawed theory, erroneously blessed by the trial court, that ‘intent to defraud’ can include either (i) intent to interfere with unspecified government regulators, or (ii) intent to deceive ‘the voting public.’ Making matters worse, DANY did not prove that President Trump acted with either of those intentions in mind.”
The lawyers also argued that Judge Juan Merchan refused to recuse himself from the case, and questioned his impartiality due to his past political contributions — donating to both then-President Joe Biden and to a group called “Stop Republicans PAC.”
The lawyers also called into question, again, Merchan’s daughter’s work as the president and part-owner of an advertising company that was paid millions by the Kamala Harris campaign and other Democrats — “including for running advertisements specifically invoking DANY’s prosecution of President Trump in her father’s courtroom.”
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Loren Merchan sits as the president for Authentic Campaigns — a company that has done political work for top Democrat clients like Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“In the face of all these undisputed and damaging facts, Justice Merchan’s refusal to recuse created, at the very least, ‘the appearance of bias,’ which ‘erode(s) public confidence in the judicial system’ and is yet another clear ground for reversal,” Trump lawyers argued.
Trump’s attorneys concluded by saying that “despite years of rifling through President Trump’s business, DANY could not find a felony charge.”
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“So it concocted an elaborate theory that has never before been pursued in this State and is plainly preempted by federal law,” the filing states. “Like every criminal defendant in a New York courtroom, President Trump was entitled to a fair trial before a properly instructed jury and a neutral judge.”
“Instead, he was convicted after a trial that featured repeated and clear violations of his constitutional rights, federal law, and New York law, presided over by a judge who was required to recuse,” they argued. “For all these reasons, this Court should reverse the judgment of conviction and dismiss the indictment.”
Democrat fires back at CNBC host over $1.5T Obamacare subsidies question
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., fired back at CNBC host Joe Kernen over a question about Democrats’ demand for an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
During Monday’s “Squawk Box,” Kernen asked Gallego why his party was demanding $1.5 trillion in federal spending if his goal was only to keep Americans’ health insurance premiums from rising.
“But what’s the $1.5 trillion, Senator?” Kernen said. “You could extend those for one year, you could extend the Obamacare subsidies for $40 billion. For 10 years, you can do it for [$340] billion. You’re asking for $1.5 trillion.”
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“I’m sorry, are you an insurance broker?” Gallego responded.
“I don’t…that’s not germane to this, Senator,” Kernen said, as Gallego repeatedly asked him if he was an insurance broker.
“Are you an insurance broker?” Kernen shot back.
“No, but I actually understand that I would first go talk to them,” Gallego said.
Kernen repeated his question, asking why Democrats were “demanding” $1.5 trillion to reopen the government.
“We’re not demanding anything,” Gallego said. “This is just a Republican talking point. All I want is for the [Affordable Care Act] to be extended for Americans so 24 million people do not get their premiums doubled. That’s what I’m asking for.”
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Earlier in the interview, Gallego and Kernen also argued over Democrats refusing to vote on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s bill to continue funding the government.
“Well, because he gave the president the power to decide which employee was essential or not,” Gallego said. “And like, let’s be honest, this president is quite temperamental. He acts like a child. He’s very petty. And if you give him that power, he would use it in a petty, temperamental, childlike way.”
“Senator, I guess the critics of Democrats would say it’s similar here,” Kernen said. “You’re talking about a clean bill. The continued resolution is a clean resolution, same as the one that was in March. And all along, it looked like that was going to be sufficient to get enough votes to pass. And it’s just not…”
“I’m sorry, to who? I’m sorry, that’s never been in my position,” Gallego said.
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In a comment to Fox News Digital, Gallego press secretary Jacques Petit said, “Senator Gallego will not back down at Republicans allowing health insurance premiums to skyrocket for 24 million Americans.”
Nov. 1 marks the first day of open enrollment for Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Democrats have warned for weeks that healthcare premium prices are expected to skyrocket for Americans who rely on the program if Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, set to expire at the end of 2025, are not extended.
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That extension has emerged as Democrats’ main demand in the shutdown fight, now in its fourth week. Democrats have largely refused to agree to any spending bill that does not extend the subsidies.
NFL legend’s on-air outburst captures Commanders’ costly mistake against Chiefs
The Washington Commanders’ early turnover against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night was enough for NFL legend Peyton Manning to shriek during the game’s “ManningCast.”
Manning and every other NFL fan watching the game saw Marcus Mariota’s pass to Deebo Samuel go off his intended target’s facemask and into the hands of Chiefs defensive end Mike Danna for an opening-drive interception.
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“Oh no, you’re kidding me. Cannot happen!” Manning said as he put his head into his hands. “Another wide receiver screen. I like it. Get it out of your hand, hit Deebo. It went off his hands to his facemask, right to the defender. Gosh!
“He took his eye off of it.… Sick.”
The Commanders kept the game close in the first half. The two teams were tied at seven apiece going into halftime. But the Chiefs broke the game open in the second half while the Commanders’ offense failed to get anything together. Kansas City won the game 28-7.
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“It was a tale of two halves,” Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “We kind of left some things on the field in the first half that we feel we could have executed. The defense did a great job of getting us the ball back twice. We’ve got to capitalize on that. The second half, they executed a lot better than us.”
Mariota was 21-of-30 with 213 yards, a touchdown pass to McLaurin and two interceptions. He was also sacked twice.
“We came out well,” Mariota said, “but when we’re not converting our drives against this type of team, it’s tough, because they’ll get going. I thought our defense did a good job of holding them up, making plays, creating turnovers.”
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Washington fell to 3-5 on the season.
Man caught yelling ‘Go back to Haiti!’ at Winsome Sears dealt another blow after firing
The man who went viral for lobbing racially charged insults at Virginia gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears during a college football game earlier this month, subsequently filed a police report claiming he was getting harassed after the incident went viral.
The Fairfax County Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that it was aware of the police report that was filed and that, ultimately, the department’s threat assessment unit found that the information provided did not meet the criteria for a criminal investigation.
“Go back to Haiti!,” the man from the viral video yelled at Sears, a Republican, during a James Madison University football game earlier this month. “Traitor!”
After the incident, Sears clarified on social media that she is an immigrant from Jamaica, not Haiti.
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“I thought Democrats were supposed to love everyone,” Sears quipped at the time.
The man, identified by local news reports as Scott Pogorelc, from Centerville, Virginia, was also reportedly fired by his employer, a subsidiary of government contractor Lockheed Martin. A JMU football player by the same last name is a redshirt senior on the Dukes’ offensive line.
“We hold all of our employees and subsidiaries to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct. Any behavior that violates our Code of Ethics will be thoroughly investigated and employees found in violation will be held accountable. Zeta Associates investigated the matter, and the individual is no longer employed,” said a statement from a Lockheed Martin spokesperson, according to Fox 5 DC reporter Allison Papson.
Meanwhile, Pogorelc is also a Democratic Party donor, according to Federal Election Commission filings and the Virginia Public Access Project. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor running against Sears, was among those he has donated to.
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The situation involving Pogorelc was not the first time Sears has faced racially insensitive remarks in recent months amid her campaign. In August, while speaking out against transgender bathroom policies outside an Arlington County school board meeting, a counter-protester held up a sign that read: “Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then Blacks can’t share my water fountain.”
Following that incident, current GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is facing the end of his term limit, blasted what he described as the “hypocrisy of the liberal left.”
“Winsome is so much bigger than this idiocy,” Youngkin wrote on X.
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“This is wrong. [Winsome Earle-Sears] — and Virginia — deserve better,” added Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in response to the sign. Miyares is running for reelection against Democratic Party candidate Jay Jones.
Hegseth reveals latest strikes on suspects ‘trafficking narcotics’ in the Pacific
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military killed 14 alleged narco-terrorists in a series of strikes against four suspected drug vessels in the Eastern Pacific.
“All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed,” Hegseth added, noting that President Donald Trump ordered the strikes targeting “Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific.”
“The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics. Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike,” Hegseth said.
“Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor,” he added.
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“Regarding the survivor, USSOUTHCOM immediately initiated Search and Rescue (SAR) standard protocols; Mexican SAR authorities accepted the case and assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue,” Hegseth also said.
“The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own. These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them,” Hegseth declared.
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Officials say dozens of suspected drug traffickers have been killed since Sept. 2, when the Trump administration began targeting boats allegedly carrying drugs.
Many of the strikes have unfolded in the Caribbean.
Hegseth had announced on Friday that at Trump’s direction, the “Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.”
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“Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters — and was the first strike at night,” Hegseth said Friday. “All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”
Louisiana governor urges LSU to install Charlie Kirk statue supporting free speech
Louisiana’s governor on Monday night called on the state’s largest university to erect a statue memorializing Charlie Kirk.
“We’re gonna put a challenge out to the LSU board of supervisors to find a place to put a statue of Charlie Kirk to defend freedom of speech on college campuses,” said Gov. Jeff Landry in a video posted to social from the Louisiana State University campus.
Landry was at Louisiana State University Monday evening for a rally with the school’s Turning Point USA chapter. He said more than 1,500 people attended the event, which also featured conservative best-selling author and podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey.
“Come on ladies and gentlemen, let’s see if we can be the first campus to do it,” Landry said.
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“And the one thing I want to challenge you all — especially those in a university setting — be curious,” Landry told the crowd at the Turning Point event. “Ask questions. Seek the truth. Not your truth. The truth.”
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Landry’s call comes roughly a week after a student government body at Loyola University New Orleans denied a newly formed TPUSA chapter the ability to become an official student organization on campus.
The Oct. 15 denial means that the chapter will not have access to school resources, including reserving space for campus events.
At least one student at the student body meeting considering the chapter objected to TPUSA’s values, according to left-wing blog Fight Back! News.
“Loyola University New Orleans, and our whole Jesuit Community, have prided themselves on the core values of St. Ignatius, and the Society of Jesus at large. As it stands, Turning Point USA, its leaders, and many of the individuals whom they support are in direct opposition of these values,” a freshman named Rosalina Framboise reportedly said.
An unnamed student reportedly claimed Kirk and Turning Point promote “hate toward Hispanics.”
“At Loyola University New Orleans, the chartering of new student organizations, including Turning Point USA, follows a student-led, peer-to-peer process administered by the Student Government Association (SGA),” Loyola explained in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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“The SGA Senate made a recommendation to the SGA President on the proposed organization’s application for recognition, and the SGA President upheld the recommendation,” the statement continued.
Inside the power source driving US growth — and its new snag
Whether it’s the gas in your car, the package on your doorstep, or the electricity fueling the next wave of artificial intelligence, much of the energy driving the American way of life starts thousands of feet beneath West Texas in the Permian Basin.
“Energy is the lifeblood of a modern economy. It’s the foundation of the lifestyle that we enjoy,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo in an exclusive interview.
Bartiromo spent two days in Midland, Texas — the heart of U.S. energy production — gathering insights from industry leaders like Wirth to explore fracking and the technology monitoring the oil-producing region that’s fueling a vision of American energy independence.
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Wirth said fossil fuels go far beyond powering gas and diesel engines — they’re essential to producing plastics and other everyday goods.
“It goes into pharmaceuticals, medicines, clothing and everyday goods. It enables mechanized agriculture,” he added.
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But even as the region produces record amounts of oil and gas, a new challenge is emerging — abundance without infrastructure.
Diamondback Energy CEO Kaes Van’t Hof told Bartiromo producers are generating more natural gas than they can move, forcing some to sell at a loss.
“In the Permian, we almost produce gas by accident. We produce six million barrels of oil a day. We produce almost 30 BCF [billion cubic feet] a day of gas, which is about a quarter of the U.S. production,” he said.
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“Our problem here is that we can’t build pipelines fast enough to get the gas out of the basin to the demand market,” he said.
Even with those constraints, Chevron Shale and Tight Vice President Kim McHugh said the Permian Basin remains one of the fastest-growing regions for oil and gas production worldwide — and is expected to stay a key driver of U.S. output as technology and efficiency continue to expand capacity.
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‘What the f–– did you just do?’: Obama fumed at Pelosi for rushing Harris endorsement, books says
Former President Barack Obama was angry with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her quick endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 election, according to a new book.
An excerpt from ABC News’ Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book, “Retribution,” asserts that Pelosi and Obama had come to an understanding that Harris “should not simply be handed the nomination unchallenged.” Nevertheless, Pelosi handed her an endorsement within 24 hours of Biden’s withdrawal.
“The Obamas were not happy,” a source close to Pelosi told Karl, according to an excerpt obtained by the Daily Mail.
“This person summed up Obama’s message to Pelosi as, essentially, ‘What the f— did you just do?’” Karl wrote.
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The book asserts that Obama had deep concerns about Harris’ ability to beat President Donald Trump and wanted Democrats to hold an open convention.
“Obama and Pelosi — arguably the two most influential figures in the Democratic Party — had privately agreed to abstain from making any endorsements,” Karl wrote.
“The former president wanted to know what had happened. Why had Pelosi issued a statement endorsing Harris so soon? Hadn’t he and Pelosi agreed days earlier that party leaders anointing the vice president as Biden’s replacement would be a mistake?” Karl added.
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Obama gave Pelosi an angry phone call, during which Pelosi argued “that train has left the station,” when Biden endorsed Harris during his withdrawal message.
The source close to Pelosi claimed Obama sounded “genuinely irritated” on the call.
Obama himself ultimately waited five days after Biden’s withdrawal before offering his endorsement to Harris in a joint phone call with his wife, Michelle.
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“We called to say Michelle and I couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Obama said.
Michelle chimed in, “I am proud of you. This is going to be historic.”
House Republican demands Zohran Mamdani be stripped of citizenship, deported
FIRST ON FOX: A House GOP lawmaker is calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to denaturalize and deport New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is sending a new request to the DOJ to probe Mamdani, a self-declared Democratic socialist and New York State assemblyman, who is the frontrunner in the race to lead the Big Apple.
Since his initial inquiry in June, Ogles wrote that “additional public reporting has raised further questions about Mr. Mamdani’s past statements and associations, including his refusal to disavow violent anti-American rhetoric and continued public praise for individuals convicted of providing material support to Hamas.”
Mamdani, who holds dual citizenship with the U.S. and Uganda, was naturalized as an American in 2018.
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It is illegal to deport American citizens. A denaturalization process can occur if it can be proven via federal court that someone’s citizenship was fraudulently obtained.
“No individual, regardless of public office or public profile, should be shielded from accountability if credible evidence indicates deception or concealment during the citizenship process,” Ogles wrote.
“I again urge the Department to open a formal investigation into whether Mr. Mamdani’s public expressions of support for the Holy Land Foundation’s convicted leadership, and his ongoing rhetoric sympathetic to anti-Israel and anti-U.S. movements, were disclosed as required during his naturalization.”
The Holy Land Foundation was accused in a U.S. court of having ties to Hamas.
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The New York Post reported that Mamdani praised the group’s founders in a 2017 rap song he released under the name “Mr. Cardamom.”
The mayoral hopeful has also been accused multiple times on the campaign trail of being overly sympathetic to Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that was behind the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
He is also a fervent critic of Israel and its war in Gaza, pledging to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he set foot in New York City.
But Mamdani has painted a more moderate picture of himself as he pledges to be a mayor for all New Yorkers, regardless of whether they supported him or not.
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He has never explicitly expressed support for Hamas but has avoided directly weighing in on the group on multiple occasions until a recent debate against his fellow mayoral candidates, where he said, “Of course, I believe that they should lay down their arms.”
Ogles’ letter said, “The United States must uphold the integrity of its citizenship process and ensure that those who seek to represent the public meet the highest standards of loyalty to this Nation.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for a response but did not hear back.