Subhechcha Ganguly 
Stephen Bannon, a former strategist to the Trump campaign and the White House, is the subject of a criminal proceeding before Merchan. It will be a first for a former U.S. president to enter Justice Juan Merchan’s courtroom on Tuesday to answer to criminal charges, but it will be familiar ground for the seasoned judge who sits on Manhattan’s criminal court. Merchan oversaw the Trump Organization’s criminal trial last year, which resulted in the real estate corporation being found guilty of tax fraud and being fined, while one of its longstanding executives, Allen Weisselberg, entered a plea of guilty and was jailed.
After a grand jury investigation into hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 American presidential election, Trump is anticipated to be charged before Merchan on Tuesday. Despite the fact that the particular allegations against Trump have not been made public, the grand jury has indicted him. According to Susan Necheles, a Trump lawyer, the former president will enter a not guilty plea.After a jury found the Trump Organization guilty in December, Merchan ordered the business to pay $1.6 million. Weisselberg, a former executive under Trump who was the prosecution’s main witness in the trial, was also given a five-month prison term by the judge. Trump attacked Merchan on his Truth Social platform on Friday, despite the fact that he was not charged in the case involving his company.
