Donald Trump’s lawyers are again asking Judge Juan Merchan to recuse himself from the former president’s New York hush money trial, seven months after the judge declined a similar request by defense lawyers. Defense lawyers filed a letter Monday arguing that Merchan’s daughter’s work for the digital consulting firm Authentic Campaigns creates an “ongoing financial interest” tied to the former president’s criminal trial.
“Under these circumstances, Your Honor has an interest in this case that warrants recusal, there is an unacceptable risk that the Court’s family relationships will influence judicial conduct, and the Court’s impartiality ‘might reasonably be questioned,’” defense lawyer Todd Blanche wrote, asking for permission to file a motion in support of recusal.
Responding in a filing Tuesday, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued that the defense request for Merchan’s recusal was factually flawed, failed to provide new information, and should be immediately denied.
“There is simply nothing new here that would alter this Court’s prior conclusion that nothing about this proceeding will directly benefit Authentic or this Court’s family member, let alone this Court,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said.
Trump’s lawyers made a similar effort to have Merchan recused from the case last year based on $35 in political contributions he made to Democrats in 2020 — including a $15 donation to Joe Biden — as well as his role overseeing the 2022 Trump Organization trial, and his daughter’s work as a political consultant.
Merchan declined to recuse himself in an August 2023 ruling, writing that “this Court has examined its conscience and is certain in its ability to be fair and impartial.”
“Defendant has failed to demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic reasons for recusal to be appropriate, much less required on these grounds. The speculative and hypothetical scenarios offered by Defendant fall well short of the legal standard,” Merchan said about the allegations related to his daughter’s work.
Merchan relied on a May 2023 opinion issued by New York’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which determined that his “impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned” based on his daughter’s work.
Source: WBAL
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