Washington: Former US President Donald Trump is making a last-minute demand for a new judge just days before his hush-money criminal trial is scheduled to commence, reigniting old grievances with the current judge in an eleventh-hour attempt to disrupt and delay proceedings.
Trump’s legal team, echoing his recent social media grievances, is urging Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan to recuse himself from the case, citing bias and alleging a conflict of interest due to his daughter’s affiliation as a Democratic political consultant. A similar request was dismissed by the judge last August.
In court documents unveiled on Friday, Trump’s attorneys argued that it was inappropriate for Merchan to preside over the proceedings while his daughter, Loren Merchan, allegedly benefits financially and reputationally from the case’s interference with Trump’s presidential campaign aspirations as the presumptive Republican nominee.
The trial is slated to commence on April 15, marking the first of Trump’s four criminal cases set for trial and potentially becoming the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president.
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Judge Merchan has yet to make an immediate ruling, and the decision rests solely with him. Should he opt to step aside, it would throw the trial schedule into disarray, granting Trump the postponement he has long sought while a new judge familiarizes themselves with the case.
Efforts to reach a court spokesperson and Loren Merchan for comment were unsuccessful at the time of reporting. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has expressed no grounds for Merchan to recuse himself.
The prosecution dismissed the defense’s assertions regarding Loren Merchan’s purported financial gains from her father’s decisions, characterizing them as speculative and lacking direct evidence. They argued that the claims failed to establish any concrete connection between her firm and the case.
Loren Merchan serves as the president of Authentic Campaigns, which has garnered over $70 million in payments from Democratic candidates and causes since its establishment in 2018. Notable clients include President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Senate Majority PAC, a political committee associated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
In a separate development on Friday, Merchan denied Trump’s lawyers’ attempt to compel NBC to provide materials related to its recent documentary featuring Stormy Daniels, a key prosecution witness, ruling it a “fishing expedition” lacking legal merit.
Trump’s request to delay the trial until the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims in another criminal case was rebuffed earlier by Merchan. Additionally, a defense delay request alleging unfair trial conditions due to “prejudicial media coverage” remains pending.
The hush-money case revolves around allegations that Trump manipulated his company’s records to conceal payments to his former attorney Michael Cohen, who assisted in suppressing negative stories during the 2016 campaign. Among these payments was $130,000 to Daniels to suppress her claims of an extramarital encounter with Trump.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last year, denies any sexual encounter with Daniels, asserting that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
Trump’s renewed effort to have Merchan recuse himself was foreshadowed by his recent criticisms on his Truth Social platform, where he alleged bias in the judge’s rulings, erroneously claiming that Loren Merchan posted a photo of him behind bars. These attacks prompted Merchan to expand the gag order against Trump regarding his family.
In a similar vein, Trump sought the recusal of the judge overseeing his Washington, DC, election interference case, but the request was dismissed.
