The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York denied the former president’s request to recuse himself.
President Trump filed the motion for New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to step away from the case, citing that Justice Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, “creates an actual or perceived conflict of interest because rulings and decisions” may financially benefit Ms. Merchan, who works for a progressive group and worked for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
In a six-page decision on Aug. 11, Justice Merchan wrote that President Trump “failed to demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic reasons for recusal to be appropriate, much less required on these grounds” and that “the speculative and hypothetical scenarios offered by Defendant fall well short of the legal standard.”
Additionally, President Trump contended that the court had a “role in a prior case encouraging Allen Weisselberg to cooperate against President Trump and his interests shows a preconceived bias against President Trump.” Mr. Weisselberg, who was The Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, pleaded guilty in 2022 to more than a dozen white-collar counts, including criminal tax fraud. He was released in April after doing a five-month jail term.
Justice Merchan wrote in his decision that The Trump Organization sought recusal for the same second reason President Trump claimed why the judge should recuse himself.
“That the identical grounds are now raised on behalf of a different defendant, on an entirely different indictment, only serve to weaken the plausibility of the claim,” stated Justice Merchan.
Moreover, President Trump claimed that alleged 2020 campaign contributions made by New York’s highest court would “raise, if true, at the very least, an appearance of impartiality.”
In the decision, Justice Merchan wrote that “the donations at issue are self-evident and require no further clarification, that the court is not required to disclose its contributions and, therefore, there is no need or requitement for an on-the-record explanation.”
Additionally, Justice Merchan cited an opinion stating that “it is sufficient to say that these modest political contributions made more than two years ago cannot reasonably create an impression of bias or favoritism in the case before the judge. Accordingly, we conclude the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned on this basis.”
Justice Merchan concluded his opinion by writing that the court “finds that recusal would not be in the public interest” and that “this court has examined its conscience and is certain in its ability to be fair and impartial.”
A New York grand jury voted on March 30 to indict President Trump over allegedly misreporting a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels just weeks before the 2016 election.
In addition to the hush money case, President Trump faces two federal indictments over allegedly mishandling classified information and allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. This week, he will likely be indicted for the fourth time over allegedly attempting to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia. A copy of an indictment was posted, but removed, from the website of the court of Fulton County.
