NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump is asking for a new judge just a few days before his hush-money criminal trial is about to begin. This is a last-minute attempt to disrupt and delay the case, fueled by Trump's ongoing grievances with the judge.
Trump’s attorneys, echoing his recent complaints on social media, have asked Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan to step aside, claiming bias and a conflict of interest because his daughter is a Democratic political consultant. A similar request was rejected by the judge in August.
In documents made public on Friday, Trump’s lawyers argued that it is not right for Merchan to oversee the proceedings while his daughter benefits financially and reputationally from the way this case is affecting Trump’s campaign as the likely Republican presidential nominee.
The trial is set to start on April 15. This is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases scheduled for trial and would be the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.
Merchan did not immediately make a decision. If he were to recuse himself, it would disrupt the trial schedule, giving Trump the postponement he has been seeking while a new judge gets up to speed.
Messages seeking comment were left for a court spokesperson and for Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it sees no reason for Merchan to step aside.
The defense’s claims about Loren Merchan profiting from her father’s decisions involve “multiple attenuated factual leaps here that undercut any direct connection” between her firm and this case, according to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo in a letter to the judge.
“This daisy chain of innuendos is a far cry from evidence” that Judge Merchan has a direct, personal or financial interest in reaching a particular conclusion, Colangelo wrote.
Loren Merchan is president of Authentic Campaigns, which has received at least $70 million in payments from Democratic candidates and causes since she helped establish the company in 2018, according to records.
The firm’s previous clients include President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Senate Majority PAC, a well-funded political committee linked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Senate Majority PAC has paid Authentic Campaigns $15.2 million, as per campaign finance disclosures.
In a separate development on Friday, Merchan prevented Trump’s lawyers from compelling NBC to provide them with materials related to its recent documentary about porn actor Stormy Daniels, a key prosecution witness. He ruled the defense’s subpoena was “the very definition of a fishing expedition” and did not meet the legal criteria for requiring a news organization to provide access to its notes and documents.
On Wednesday, Merchan turned down the presumptive Republican nominee’s request to delay the trial until the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases. The judge has yet to rule on another defense delay request — this one alleging he won’t get a fair trial because of “prejudicial media coverage.”
The case about paying hush money revolves around claims that Trump altered his company's records to hide the purpose of payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen was involved in burying negative stories about Trump during the 2016 campaign. Among other things, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her claims of a previous extramarital sexual encounter with Trump.
Last year, Trump entered a plea of not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His legal team argues that the payments to Cohen were legitimate expenses for legal purposes.
Trump hinted at his lawyers' renewed effort to have Merchan leave the case by making posts targeting the judge and his daughter on his Truth Social platform last week.
Trump implied, without evidence, that Merchan's decisions, including the imposition of a gag order on Trump, were influenced by his daughter's consulting interests. He falsely claimed that she had posted a photo on social media showing him behind bars. Trump's attacks on Lauren Merchan led the judge to extend the gag order to prevent him from making public statements about his family.
Trump wrote on March 27, demanding that the Judge immediately recuse himself and correct the previous failure to do so. He characterized the current situation as an example of the country turning into a Banana Republic, rather than the America we used to love.
In his election interference case in Washington, D.C., Trump also urged the judge to step aside, claiming her previous comments about him cast doubt on her ability to be fair. However, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan stated that there was no reason for her to recuse herself.
Last year, Merchan's daughter was a focal point in the defense's request for his recusal. They also highlighted the judge's small donations to Democratic causes during the 2020 campaign, totaling $35, including $15 to Biden.
Merchan dismissed the request, writing in August that a state court ethics panel had determined that Loren Merchan's work had no influence on his impartiality. The judge asserted his certainty in his ability to be fair and impartial, stating that Trump's lawyers had failed to show concrete or even realistic reasons justifying his recusal.
Trump's legal team argues that circumstances have changed, with Trump facing President Joe Biden in a rematch, and Democrats — including clients of Loren Merchan's firm — trying to use Trump's legal issues to raise funds through emails related to the hush-money case.
Blanche and Necheles stated that it would not sit well with most New Yorkers if the judge overseeing the proceedings had an adult child working at WinRed or MAGA Inc., referring to a Republican fundraising platform and a pro-Trump fundraising committee.
In their bid to have Merchan recuse himself, Trump's lawyers also raised concerns about his decision to give an interview to the Associated Press last month, suggesting that he may have violated judicial conduct rules, and they questioned his use of a court spokesperson last week to refute Trump's claims that she had posted the image of Trump in jail.
Merchan said in the interview with the AP that he and his team were working hard to get ready for the first trial of a former president. He mentioned, “We don't have any specific plans. We just want to obey the law and make sure justice is served.”
