Former President Donald Trump is requesting a new judge just days before his hush-money criminal trial begins, in an eleventh-hour attempt to disrupt and delay the case by revisiting longstanding issues with the current judge.
Trump's legal team, echoing his recent social media complaints, has asked Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan to step down from the case, citing bias and a conflict of interest due to his daughter's role as a Democratic political consultant.
The judge had previously denied a similar request last August. In court documents made public Friday, Trump’s lawyers argued that it is inappropriate for Merchan "to preside over these proceedings while Ms. Merchan benefits, financially and reputationally, from the manner in which this case is interfering” with Trump’s campaign as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
The trial is scheduled to commence on April 15 and marks the first of Trump's four criminal cases set to go to trial, making it the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.
Merchan has not yet made a ruling, and the decision rests entirely with him. Should he recuse himself, it would disrupt the trial schedule, potentially granting Trump the postponement he has sought while a new judge familiarizes themselves with the case.
Efforts to reach a comment from a court spokesperson and Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, were unsuccessful.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office stated that it sees no grounds for Merchan to step aside, countering the defense's claims of bias.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued in a letter to the judge that the defense's assertions that Loren Merchan is benefiting from her father's decisions lack evidence. Colangelo emphasized the lack of a direct connection between her firm, Authentic Campaigns, and the case.
Authentic Campaigns, led by Loren Merchan, has received payments exceeding $70 million from Democratic candidates and causes since its establishment in 2018.
Among its past clients are President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Senate Majority PAC, a significant spending political committee associated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Senate Majority PAC has paid Authentic Campaigns $15.2 million, according to campaign finance disclosures.
In a separate development on Friday, Merchan blocked Trump’s attorneys from compelling NBC to provide them with materials related to its recent documentary about porn actor Stormy Daniels, a key prosecution witness.
He deemed the defense's subpoena a “fishing expedition” that failed to meet the legal burden for requiring a news organization to provide access to its notes and documents.
The hush money case revolves around allegations that Trump falsified his company’s records to conceal the nature of payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who assisted Trump in burying negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Among these payments was $130,000 to Daniels to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years prior.
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, maintaining that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and denying any sexual encounter with Daniels.
Trump had hinted at his legal team's renewed efforts to have Merchan removed from the case through posts criticizing the judge and his daughter on his Truth Social platform. Trump's attacks on Loren Merchan prompted the judge to expand the gag order to prevent him from making public statements about his family.
In his Washington, D.C., election interference case, Trump similarly urged the judge to recuse herself, citing her previous comments about him as grounds for questioning her impartiality. However, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found no reason for her to step aside.
Last year, Merchan dismissed the defense's request for his recusal, stating that a state court ethics panel had determined that Loren Merchan’s work had no influence on his impartiality. He expressed confidence in his “ability to be fair and impartial,” noting that Trump’s lawyers had “failed to demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic reasons for recusal to be appropriate, much less required on these grounds.”
Trump’s legal team now argues that circumstances have changed, with Trump facing President Joe Biden in a rematch and Democrats, including clients of Loren Merchan’s firm, using Trump's legal troubles in fundraising emails related to the hush-money case.
“It would be completely unacceptable to most New Yorkers if the judge presiding over these proceedings had an adult child who worked at WinRed or MAGA Inc.,” Trump's lawyers wrote, referring to a Republican fundraising platform and a pro-Trump fundraising committee.
In their bid for Merchan's recusal, Trump's attorneys also questioned his decision to grant an interview to The Associated Press last month, suggesting a potential violation of judicial conduct rules, and raised concerns about his use of a court spokesperson last week to refute Trump's claims regarding an image of him in jail.
Merchan defended his actions in the AP interview, stating that he and his staff were diligently preparing for the historic trial and emphasizing their commitment to following the law and ensuring justice is served.