Once more Trump’s team fires back at Judge Juan Merchan.
In a court filing unveiled Thursday, they contended that Judge Juan Merchan’s needs to be disqualified from the case.
Why?
Impartiality is compromised.
The source of the conflict of interest points to his daughter.
Turns out she has known Kamala Harris for a long time.
Defense lawyers Todd Blanche stated,
“She has obtained — and stands to obtain in the future — extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris.”
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🚨 BREAKING: Former President Donald Trump and his legal team have launched a new request to DISQUALIFY Judge Juan Merchan from President Trump’s New York criminal trial.
DEVELOPING…https://t.co/ZsZutX7p5G
— Proud Elephant 🇺🇸🦅 (@ProudElephantUS) August 1, 2024
NEW: President Trump’s lawyers file a new request asking Judge Merchan to recuse based on presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris—a one time client of Merchan’s daughter, Loren.
Merchan still has a gag order in place prohibiting Trump from making critical statements about Loren: pic.twitter.com/G7CMfIkIpw
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) August 1, 2024
ABC News reports:
A change in the nation’s political landscape means the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money case should be recused, defense attorneys argued in a court filing made public Thursday.
Trump is reviving a longshot effort to have Judge Juan Merchan recused from the case because of an alleged conflict between the judge’s daughter and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“Your Honor’s daughter has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns. She has obtained — and stands to obtain in the future — extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris,” defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.
Describing the vice president as Trump’s “presumptive opponent,” defense lawyers argued that Merchan’s daughter has had an “extremely beneficial working relationship” with Harris because her company was a top vendor to Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign.
This is the third time Trump’s lawyers have attempted to have Judge Merchan removed from the case. Last year, New York’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics determined that Merchan’s impartiality “cannot reasonably be questioned” based on his daughter’s professional work as a political consultant.
The letter/motion appears to reference my latest reporting on Loren Merchan’s very profitable year so far—she almost doubled her business from same period in 2022. Adam Schiff has paid her firm, Authentic Campaigns, roughly $8 million in 2024.
Loren Merchan’s new clients include…
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) August 1, 2024
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