Former President Trump is demanding a new judge be appointed just days before his hush money criminal trial begins, rehashing old grievances with the current judge in a long-running 11th-hour effort to stall and delay the case.
Trump's lawyers — echoing his recent complaints on social media — urged Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan to recuse himself from the case, alleging bias and a conflict of interest because his daughter is a Democratic political consultant. The judge rejected a similar request last August.
In court papers released Friday, Trump's lawyers said it was inappropriate for Merchan “to preside over these proceedings while Ms. Merchan benefits, financially and reputationally, from the manner in which this case interferes” with Trump's campaign as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. .
The trial is scheduled to begin on April 15. This is the first of Trump's four criminal cases scheduled to go to trial and will be the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.
Merchan did not rule immediately. The decision is completely up to him. If he resigns, it would throw the trial schedule into disarray, giving Trump a long-awaited reprieve while a new judge prepares for the trial.
Messages seeking comment were left for a court spokesperson and for Merchan's daughter, Lauren Merchan. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office said it saw no reason for Merchan to step down.
The defense's claims that Lauren Merchan profits from her father's decisions require “multiple factual leaps mitigated here that undermine any direct connection” between her company and this case, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote in a letter to the judge.
“This series of insinuations is a far cry from the evidence” that Judge Merchan had a direct, personal or financial interest in reaching a particular outcome, Colangelo wrote.
Loren Merchan is the president of Authentic Campaigns, which has collected at least $70 million in payments from Democratic candidates and causes since she helped found the company in 2018, records show.
The company's past clients include President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Senate Majority Political Action Committee, a policy committee affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D.N.Y.).
In a separate development on Friday, Merchan blocked Trump's lawyers from forcing NBC to provide them with materials related to its recent documentary about porn actor Stormy Daniels, the prosecution's main witness. He ruled that the defense's subpoena was “the very definition of a fishing expedition” and did not meet the legal burden of requiring a news organization to provide access to its notes and documents.
On Wednesday, Merchan rejected the presumptive Republican nominee's request to postpone the trial until the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he has raised in another criminal case. The judge has yet to rule on another request to delay the defense – one that claims he will not get a fair trial due to “prejudicial media coverage.”
The hush money case centers on allegations that Trump falsified his company records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Among other things, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to suppress her allegations about a sexual encounter. Extramarital affair with Trump years ago.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers say the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
Trump foreshadowed his lawyers' renewed efforts to get Merchand off the case with posts last week on his Truth Social platform calling for the judge to “recuse himself.”
Trump suggested, without evidence, that Merchan's rulings — including his decision to impose a gag order on Trump — were influenced by his daughter's consulting interests. He wrongly claimed she posted a photo on social media showing him behind bars. Trump's attacks on Lauren Merchan led a judge to expand a gag order to prevent Trump from making public statements about his family.
On Saturday, Trump again complained on his social media site about the judge and again compared himself to the late Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned by the racist apartheid government in South Africa for 27 years before becoming the country's leader.
“If this partisan wants to put me in the awkward position of speaking the public and unambiguous truth, I will gladly be a modern-day Nelson Mandela – that would be a great honour.”
Likewise, Trump pressured the judge in the election interference case in Washington, D.C., to recuse herself, claiming that her past comments about him called into question her ability to be fair. But US District Judge Tanya Chutkan said there was no reason for her to step down.
Merchan's daughter featured prominently in defense calls for him to step down last year. They also seized several small donations the judge made to Democratic Party causes during the 2020 campaign. They totaled $35, including $15 to Biden.
Merchan denied that request, writing last August that the state court ethics commission found that Loren Merchan's work had no impact on his integrity. The judge said he was certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial,” and said Trump's lawyers “failed to demonstrate that there were concrete, or even factual, reasons for recusal to be appropriate, let alone required on those grounds.”
Trump's lawyers contend that circumstances have changed now that Trump is in a rematch against President Biden, and Democrats — including clients of Loren Merchan's firm — are seeking to capitalize on Trump's legal troubles with fundraising emails revolving around developments in the secret money case.
“It would be completely unacceptable to most New Yorkers for the judge presiding over these proceedings to have an adult child work for WinRed or MAGA Inc,” the lawyers wrote, referring to the Republican fundraising platform and pro-Trump fundraising committee.
In seeking to disqualify Merchan, Trump's lawyers also objected to his decision to give an interview to The Associated Press last month, suggesting he may have violated rules of judicial conduct.
In the interview, Merchan told the AP that he and his staff were working hard to prepare for the historic first trial of a former president, saying: “There is no agenda here. We want to follow the law. We want justice.”
Sisak writes for the Associated Press. AP correspondents Brian Slodesko and Alana Durkin Richer in Washington, Jennifer Peltz and Michelle L. Kennedy contributed to this report. Price in New York.