Who is Juan Merchan, the 'no-nonsense' judge overseeing Trump's case?

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush money case knows the drama the former president brings to court.

The two have crossed paths before, legally speaking.

In 2022, Justice Juan Manuel Merchan presided over the tax-fraud trial that led to the conviction of the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.

He has more than 16 years on the bench, but this will be by far the most high-profile case to cross his courtroom.

The New York County Supreme Court judge is also presiding over a criminal case against the former president's close ally, Steve Bannon, who has been charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with a charity that was supposed to help build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

On Friday, ahead of his own day in court, Mr Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that Justice Merchan "HATES ME".

Mr Trump, who faces charges related to hush money paid to a former porn star, has denied all wrongdoing.

Justice Merchan began his legal career in 1994, after graduating from Hofstra University School of Law. He spent several years in the New York County District Attorney's Office, before becoming deputy assistant attorney general in Nassau County in 1999. He then went on to serve as an assistant attorney general in both Nassau and Suffolk counties, before being appointed to the bench in 2006 in Bronx County Family Court.

He has served as a justice at the New York County Supreme Court, presiding over criminal matters, since 2009.

"He's a serious jurist, smart and even-tempered," Manhattan defence attorney Ron Kuby told NBC News. "He's not one of those judges who yells at lawyers, and is characterised as a no-nonsense judge. But he's always in control of the courtroom."

Last year, in the case against the Trump Organization, Justice Merchan was adamant that the charges were absolutely not politically motivated. The organization's lawyer had tried to argue Mr Weisselberg was being targeted because of his association with the former president.

Justice Merchan said that argument had no legal merit.

"I will not allow you in any way to bring up a selective prosecution claim, or claim this is some sort of novel prosecution," Merchan said, according to the BBC's news partner CBS.