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New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the hush money trial of former president Donald Trump that returned 34 felony convictions, ought never to have accepted the case. And Merchan surely should have stepped away once Trumps lawyers moved that he disqualify himself.

Yes, in response to that request, an appeals court ruled last month that Trump has not established that he has a clear right to recusal. But I expect that such clarity will emerge in the appeal of Trumps conviction, which will be filed soon after his sentencing next month.

Many legal analysts who have assessed the case, finding it a disturbing aberration in how criminal law ought to be used and criminal trials conducted, have nominated their favorite most compelling argument for Trumps success on appeal. Mine goes to Merchans astonishing decision to preside in the first place.

Begin in July 2023, when New York states Commission on Judicial Conduct reprimanded Merchan, sending him a caution because the judge had made contributions to President Bidens reelection campaign and to two anti-Republican and anti-Trump political action committees: Progressive Turnout Project and Stop Republicans. New York absolutely prohibits its judges from making such political contributions (see below), and while the rebuke delivered to Merchan was not made public Reuters broke the story last month it will be much discussed in the months between now and the election.

Merchan donated $15 to the Biden campaign and $10 to each of the two committees. Why would anyone make such symbolic statements, having taken an oath to be a judge and abide by the judicial code of ethics? We cannot know, but it is plausible that Merchan needed to plant three flags to signal to Team Biden he would make a fine federal judge. Or perhaps he just loves Biden. Or perhaps Juan Merchan just detests Trump. We dont know because the judge was never obliged to answer such questions.

A caution does not include any penalty, but it can be considered in any future cases reviewed by the states Commission on Judicial Conduct, the New York Times reported in May. A letter outlining the caution was not released because of the commissions rules, and Justice Merchan did not make the letter available.

Reuters added, Under [the New York] commission rules, a caution may be taken into consideration in the event of any future misconduct.

Last year, New Yorks Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics ruled that Merchan would not have to recuse himself after the Trump legal team raised not only the judges contributions to Democratic organizations but also his daughters work for Democrats and Merchans alleged suggestion to a former Trump Organization executive last year that he cooperate against Trump in the companys tax fraud case.

But the judicial ethics advisory committees advice is not binding. Merchan was free to remove himself and should have. If Merchans outright support for forces aligned against a defendant in his courtroom wasnt disqualifying, then lets hear no more of the (ludicrous) calls for Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.s recusal from Jan. 6-related cases because some people disapprove of his wifes choice of flags to display.

In a recent episode of the podcast The McCarthy Report, former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy and National Review editor Rich Lowry detailed 10 grounds on which the Trump legal team could demand that the verdicts against Trump be tossed out. An appeal that stays the sentencing (which is set for July 11) requires a colorable claim of error, and McCarthy opined that the Merchans conduct amounted to a coloring book of such claims.

Just for starters, appeals courts must reassess the significance of Merchans $35 in political donations. The advisory committees opinion is not dispositive on the issue of recusal nor is the first appeals courts decision. Those refusals to recuse will have to be studied in light of Merchans many rulings against Trump in the course of the trial.

Is there any doubt, outside feverish anti-Trump circles, that Merchan was compromised by his donations? He got a slap on the wrist from the judicial conduct commission, perhaps because the offense was Merchans first and the amount of the donations was so small. The judges lack of awareness regarding the appearance of impropriety arising from his contributions, or simple indifference to it, was abetted by the advisory committee, but the commission clearly rebuked the judge last summer for the contributions. Merchans decision not to recuse is mystifying.

Consider these particulars from New Yorks rules governing judicial conduct:

Section 100.2 provides A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judges activities.

Section 100.4(A) provides A judge shall conduct all of the judges extra-judicial activities so that they do not: (1) cast reasonable doubt on the judges capacity to act impartially as a judge

Section 100.5(A)(1) provides Neither a sitting judge nor a candidate for public election to judicial office shall directly or indirectly engage in any political activity except (i) as otherwise authorized by this section or by law, (ii) to vote and to identify himself or herself as a member of a political party

Section 100.5(A)(1)(h) spells it out: A New York judge may not make a contribution to a political organization or candidate.

Merchan is a partisan, and a robe doesnt disguise the team jersey with the great big D he is wearing underneath it.

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Opinion | Why Trump will win on appeal: Judge Merchan should have recused - The Washington Post - The Washington Post

Former President Donald J. Trump stood in blazing heat in a Las Vegas park on Sunday and directly appealed to working-class voters by promising to eliminate taxes on tips for hospitality workers.

But beyond that proposal, little at Mr. Trumps campaign rally suggested that his new status as a felon had changed his message. And when Mr. Trumps teleprompter apparently stopped working, his speech which his campaign advisers had billed as focused on issues of local concern to Nevada voters devolved into familiar stories and riffs.

I got no teleprompters, and I havent from the beginning, Mr. Trump said after speaking for roughly 15 minutes, though his speech included excerpts from prepared remarks that his campaign had provided to reporters. That probably means well make a better speech now.

Mr. Trump repeatedly voiced his frustration with the lack of a teleprompter, even though he has often boasted of his ability to give long speeches without one.

His remarks, which lasted roughly an hour, felt unfocused as he cycled through well-worn territory, railing against electric vehicles, immigration, the four criminal cases brought against him and President Bidens physical and mental condition.

Once again, Mr. Trump broadly depicted migrants crossing the border illegally as violent criminals or mentally ill people, and then recited The Snake, a standby poem he has used since 2016 to expound on the threat that he believes undocumented immigrants pose to the country.

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In Las Vegas, Trump Appeals to Local Workers and Avoids Talk of Conviction - The New York Times

When Nevadans arent happy with the economy and their families ability to prosper, they often vote to make a change. In the 2022 elections, I was the only candidate in the country to unseat an incumbent governor of either party. What I heard most on the campaign trail from voters then was the importance of building a stronger economy, particularly the need for good-paying jobs and lower taxes.

Kitchen-table politics are once again demonstrating power in Nevada, as polling shows former President Donald Trump with a sizable lead over President Biden. Nevadans continue to struggle under the weight of inflation, so it does not surprise me to see their frustrations manifest in support for changing our president.

When I took office, Nevada was grappling with the economic hangover of the pandemic. In the following months, we lowered our main business tax by 15 percent, vetoed tax increases, eliminated red tape through executive orders and empowered the Governors Office of Economic Development to create competitive incentive packages. The results: We generated $5 billion in new private-sector economic investment, led the nation in annual job growth and created thousands of new jobs in our state. The state has also used federal pandemic relief money to help fund some programs.

Yet many people here are still suffering from higher costs, largely as a result of the Biden administrations failure to rein in national inflation. Since Mr. Biden took office, prices have risen 19 percent, a major factor in real average weekly earnings dropping 4 percent. This type of economic turmoil is simply unsustainable for Nevada families.

This is especially true when it comes to the cost of housing in Nevada. As I outlined in a recent letter to the president, the median home listing price in Las Vegas was $342,995 in January 2021, but by this year that price had skyrocketed to $460,000. With todays high interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve, prospective home buyers getting a Federal Housing Administration loan with a 3.5 percent down payment could expect the monthly cost for a median home in the Las Vegas area to be around $2,900 per month at the market interest rate of 6.71 percent over twice the market interest rate and monthly cost in January 2021. The average salary in Nevada is $55,070, but Nevadans now need to make at least $111,557 to afford the monthly mortgage payment for the median home.

Further exacerbating our housing crisis, the Biden administration hasnt released additional federal land for housing development in Nevada. The federal government controls more than 80 percent of the land in Nevada, and while Nevadans enjoy public access to much of this space throughout the state for things like recreation, agriculture and mining, the reality of this ownership surrounding the urban areas of the state is a limiting factor on the development of new housing options. The land available for development in Las Vegas is currently slated to run out by 2032.

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Opinion | Why Trump Resonates With Nevada Voters: Inflation, Economic Turmoil - The New York Times

Former President Donald J. Trump stood in blazing heat in a Las Vegas park on Sunday and directly appealed to working-class voters by promising to eliminate taxes on tips for hospitality workers.

But beyond that proposal, little at Mr. Trumps campaign rally suggested that his new status as a felon had changed his message. And when Mr. Trumps teleprompter apparently stopped working, his speech which his campaign advisers had billed as focused on issues of local concern to Nevada voters devolved into familiar stories and riffs.

I got no teleprompters, and I havent from the beginning, Mr. Trump said after speaking for roughly 15 minutes, though his speech included excerpts from prepared remarks that his campaign had provided to reporters. That probably means well make a better speech now.

Mr. Trump repeatedly voiced his frustration with the lack of a teleprompter, even though he has often boasted of his ability to give long speeches without one.

His remarks, which lasted roughly an hour, felt unfocused as he cycled through well-worn territory, railing against electric vehicles, immigration, the four criminal cases brought against him and President Bidens physical and mental condition.

Once again, Mr. Trump broadly depicted migrants crossing the border illegally as violent criminals or mentally ill people, and then recited The Snake, a standby poem he has used since 2016 to expound on the threat that he believes undocumented immigrants pose to the country.

He continued to revive his unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election. And he baselessly insisted Democrats would try to cheat in November, sowing doubt about the general election months before a single vote has been cast.

Dont let them cheat, he told the crowd in Nevada. You watch that vote and watch it all the way.

Mr. Trump again praised the mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, calling them J6 warriors, suggesting they had legitimate reasons to try to stop Congress from certifying the presidential election and saying that they had somehow been set up that day.

They were warriors, but theyre really, more than anything else, theyre victims of what happened, Mr. Trump said. All they were doing were protesting a rigged election.

Mr. Trump said next to nothing about his recent conviction on 34 felony charges in Manhattan, but he lamented the four times he was indicted last year as a disgrace. Still, a number of people at the rally wore shirts reading Im voting for the convicted felon.

Much as he did at a town-hall-style forum last week in Phoenix, Mr. Trump spoke at length about immigration, saying that Mr. Bidens border policies constituted an all-out war on Black and Hispanic Americans.

Mr. Trump again criticized Mr. Bidens recent executive order meant to deter illegal crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico, calling it weak, ineffective and garbage, though he used an expletive.

In response, the crowd began chanting the expletive, as his supporters did in Arizona when he used the same description. This word seems to be catching on a little bit, Mr. Trump said approvingly. (When Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, spoke before Mr. Trump took the stage, her remarks prompted three identical chants.)

At the rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, the Trump campaign formally announced its Latino outreach effort, known as Latino Americans for Trump, and a number of Hispanic Americans spoke before Mr. Trump did.

Nevada has a large Hispanic population, and polls show that Mr. Trumps support among the states working-class and Latino voters is increasing. His campaign is trying to capitalize on dissatisfaction among those groups with Mr. Bidens handling of the economy.

Linda Fornos, a Las Vegas resident who came to the United States from Nicaragua, said that she voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 but that she was disappointed with his administration. For many years, I believed in the promises of the Democrats for more opportunities for the Latino community, she said.

Mr. Trumps pledge to eliminate taxes on tips for restaurant and hospitality workers was a direct appeal to that group, a significant force in the Las Vegas area. When I get into office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips, he said.

After the rally, the Culinary Workers Union, a key part of the Democratic coalition in the state, attacked Mr. Trumps proposal as hollow.

Relief is definitely needed for tip earners, but Nevada workers are smart enough to know the difference between real solutions and wild campaign promises from a convicted felon, Ted Pappageorge, the secretary-treasurer of the union, which has 60,000 members, said in a statement.

Mr. Trumps rally in Nevada, a key battleground state, concluded a multiple-day Western swing that started on Thursday with a forum in Phoenix hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action.

As record-high temperatures hit Phoenix, at least 11 people at that indoor event were taken to the hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion. The Trump campaign took steps to avoid similar issues in Las Vegas, where the heat was less severe but where the rally was held outside. At least six people on Sunday were taken from the event to the hospital, according to the Clark County Fire Department.

After his speech in Phoenix, Mr. Trump attended three fund-raisers in California and one in Las Vegas. Chris LaCivita, one of Mr. Trumps two campaign managers, said that the campaign had raised about $27.5 million across the four events, a figure that cannot be independently verified until campaign filings are made public in the coming months.

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2024 Election Updates: Latest Biden and Trump News - The New York Times

Former President Donald J. Trump, who was convicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, is expected to have a virtual interview with a New York City Probation Department official on Monday, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

The interview is required as the agency prepares a sentencing recommendation for the judge in the case.

Mr. Trump will be in his home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., for the virtual meeting his first with a probation official since he became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.

A jury in Manhattan found him guilty on May 30 in a hush-money case stemming from a payment that Mr. Trumps then-fixer, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006. The payment came in the final days of Mr. Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, and the creation of 34 false business records to cover up Mr. Trumps reimbursement of Mr. Cohen came in early 2017, after he was elected.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, has returned to Florida since the verdict. One of his lawyers, Todd Blanche, will be present for the interview, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.

It is unusual for a lawyer to be present for a Probation Department interview, according to current and former agency officials and several defense lawyers with experience dealing with the agency. And since the coronavirus pandemic has waned, virtual interviews have become far less common.

But Justice Juan M. Merchan, who presided over the former presidents criminal trial and will hand down his sentence, signed off on the arrangement, the person with knowledge of the meeting said.

The timing of the interview was first reported by NBC News.

Mr. Trump is expected to be sentenced on July 11 and could receive a punishment ranging from probation to up to four years in prison. He is appealing the verdict.

President Trump and his legal team are already taking necessary steps to challenge and defeat the lawless Manhattan D.A. case, Steven Cheung, Mr. Trumps campaign spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday.

In New York State, after a person is convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanor, a probation officer must prepare a pre-sentence report, which the judge uses to help determine the defendants punishment.

In some instances, the defendant can also be interviewed by a social worker or psychologist working for the Probation Department. Such reports also include a defendants criminal history, if he or she has one, and the probation officer often interviews the arresting officer in the case and the defendants family members and friends. Pre-sentence reports also offer a defendants lawyer an opportunity to make positive statements about the defendant.

As part of the preparation of the report, the official is likely to ask Mr. Trump about what occurred that led to the charges against him.

Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.

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Trump Will Have Virtual Interview With Probation Official on Monday - The New York Times