New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who is set to sentence former President Donald Trump following his hush money conviction, is facing a complaint alleging an ethics violation.
The complaint, lodged by Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), argues that Trump’s conviction should be dismissed due to Merchan’s adult daughter working as a Democratic consultant.
The judge, Stefanik wrote in her complaint, should be reprimanded “for his illegal conflict of interest in the sham Manhattan trial against President Trump,” alleging the Harris campaign has a “newly active financial relationship,” according to Fox News.
The GOP’s No. 3 House Republican also called on the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct to launch a “fresh inquiry concerning Justice Merchan’s conflict and take any appropriate action resulting from it.”
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in a historic trial, marking the first criminal conviction of a current or former U.S. president. The case, filed by Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg, has led Kamala Harris and her supporters to brand Trump as a “convicted felon” seeking to reclaim his former office.
However, Stefanik argues that these claims are fraudulent and that the conviction should never have happened.
“On August 20, 2024, Vice President Harris’s campaign submitted its first Federal Election Commission (FEC) report that documented expenses and donations through July 31, 2024. In the report… a July 30, 2024, disbursement appears in the amount of $468.00 from Vice President Harris’s campaign to Authentic Campaigns Inc. (Authentic) for web hosting services,” Stefanik wrote in her complaint.
“This indicates that one of the very first things that Harris did upon taking over the Biden campaign infrastructure is to hire this firm, Authentic,” the complaint noted further.
“Authentic is a digital consulting and marketing firm that services Democrat candidates. Loren Merchan, Justice Merchan’s daughter, is its president,” Stefanik added. “Vice President Harris changed web hosting companies from AWS to Authentic immediately after becoming the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee.
“This is merely the beginning of a new contract with a new campaign, regardless of the amount reimbursed. Sure, there’s an immediate benefit, but this is a play at a potential larger benefit for Authentic and Merchan down the road,” she wrote.
Stefanik concludes by saying that court conduct “dictates that a judge must recuse from a case where a relative up to and including the sixth degree has a financial interest in the outcome of the case. Ms. Merchan is related to Justice Merchan in the first degree. Authentic has a newly active financial relationship with Vice President Harris’s campaign.”
