Trump asks judge in Hush-Money case to step aside
Former President Donald J. Trump is asking the judge overseeing his criminal case in Manhattan to resign, citing ties between the judge’s family and Democratic affairs, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said in a statement Wednesday.
The motion to dismiss, which has not yet been publicly filed, represents the latest effort by Mr. Trump’s lawyers to have his case removed from Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan.
Trump’s legal team also recently attempted to take the case brought by Manhattan’s district attorney to federal court. On Tuesday, District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg filed court papers opposing that effort, and is expected to oppose the effort to get Judge Merchan to recant himself.
Mr Bragg’s case revolves around a hush money payment made to a porn star in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. The $130,000 payment made by Mr Trump’s former fixer bought the porn star’s silence, who otherwise was ready to tell her story of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.
Mr Trump has denied the allegations against him – that he falsified records to cover up the possible sex scandal – and has lashed out at both Mr Bragg and Judge Merchan, pointing out that both are Democrats.
“President Trump, like all Americans, has the right under the Constitution to an impartial judge and legal process,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers Susan R. Necheles and Todd W. Blanche said in a statement Wednesday announcing the decision for Judge Merchan’s challenge.
But their motion to rescind faces something of an uphill climb: The decision rests in the hands of Judge Merchan, who also presided over the unrelated tax fraud trial against Mr Trump’s company last year. The company’s lawyers also sought Judge Merchan’s refusal in that case, but he refused to step aside.
The company was convicted in December and Judge Merchan ordered the maximum penalty, a $1.6 million fine.
In Wednesday’s statement, Mr. Trump’s lawyers cited Judge Merchan’s actions in that case, saying he encouraged Mr. Trump’s former finance director, Allen H. Weisselberg, to conspire against the former president and his company.
While the full details of their arguments were not immediately clear because the motion has not yet been publicly filed, their statement raised concerns about what they believed were Judge Merchan’s political ties.
The daughter of Justice Merchan, they noted, is a partner and the chief operating officer of Authentic Campaigns, a Democratic consultancy that worked for President Biden’s 2020 campaign. The company, they said, “could benefit financially from decisions that Judge Mercan can take on this matter.”
below New York State Rules on Judicial Conduct, a judge would have to disqualify himself from a case if a relative within the sixth degree “had an interest that would be substantially affected by the proceedings.” According to experts, Ms. Merchan’s work on Democratic campaigns does not interest her enough to qualify.
But in their deposition, Mr. Trump’s lawyers also confiscated modest personal donations Judge Merchan had made to Democratic campaigns. During the 2020 presidential election, Judge Merchan donated $15 to the Democratic group Act Blue, earmarked for Mr. Trump’s opponent Joseph R. Biden Jr., as well as $10 each to two other Democratic groups, including one called “Stop Republicans” .
According to a person familiar with the arrangements, Judge Merchan has been under the protection of armed bailiffs at least since a grand jury voted March 30 to indict Mr. Trump.
The lawyers plan to file the motion for revocation later this week, after prosecutors in Mr Bragg’s office have had a chance to review it and look for any redactions.
A spokeswoman for Mr Bragg’s office said prosecutors would review the motion and respond in court documents.
Judge Merchan’s attack on objectivity is vintage Trump. The former president often suggests that prosecutors investigating him — and judges hearing his cases — are too biased to proceed.
Mr Trump has argued that Mr Bragg brought the case as part of a politically motivated witch hunt, an allegation the prosecutor denies.
Mr Bragg’s case, the first-ever indictment against a former US president, sent shockwaves through the political world when he announced it in early April. It is set against the backdrop of the 2024 Republican presidential primary, which Mr. Trump is leading, and a trial is scheduled for March next year, in the middle of the campaign.