Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has filed a lawsuit petitioning the Supreme Court for a declaration that prosecutors in the state of New York's business records case against former President Donald Trump interfered with the presidential election.
Bailey's lawsuit comes after he said last month he would fight the "lawfare" involved in the case, in which a Manhattan jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments to attorney Michael Cohen in 2017.
In the lawsuit, Bailey alleges that the state's "illicit prosecution, gag order, and sentencing" kept voters in his state from being able to hear from the former president's current campaign.
He is calling for the court to remove any remaining gag orders against Trump and to stop his pending sentencing until after the November election.
"When President Trump is tethered to a courtroom in New York due to a rogue prosecutor in a collusive judiciary, then Missourians are denied access to that candidate," Bailey told Axios.
"Our First Amendment right to hear from that candidate was additionally violated by the gag order that was put in place," Bailey added.
Judge Juan Merchan delayed Trump's sentencing date from July 11, after the former president's attorneys said they plan to seek a motion concerning the trial's evidence after the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling Monday. The new sentencing date is Sept. 18.
Missouri has a "huge problem" with New York, according to Bailey's lawsuit.
"Instead of letting presidential candidates campaign on their own merit, radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election by waging a direct attack on our democratic process," he said.
Bailey's lawsuit alleges the trial interfered with the presidential election in other states, violated the First Amendment, and unlawfully changed rules for elections.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all the felony counts. He faces a maximum of 136 years in prison, should Merchan go along with sentencing guidelines.
The lawsuit lays out Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's timeline for charges against Trump and claims the case is one of "lawfare" waged to boost President Joe Biden's campaign and keep Trump from winning back the White House.
He also notes in the lawsuit that Bragg hired Matthew Colangelo, the third-highest prosecutor from the federal Department of Justice, to lead the prosecution against Trump and claims that Merchan violated state judicial ethics rules by donating to Biden's campaign.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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