MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump is once again demanding that New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan recuse himself from his upcoming criminal trial, claiming that the judge has an “unacceptable interest” in the proceedings.
In a motion filed this week, Trump claims that Merchan’s daughter, the president of a political consulting firm that has worked with Democrats, engaged in fundraising solicitations based on Trump’s criminal indictment and has financially benefited from the case.
“Your Honor’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a direct financial interest in these proceedings by virtue of her ownership stake and leadership role at Authentic Campaigns, Inc.,” Trump says in the filing.
This is Trump’s second attempt to get Merchan to recuse himself from the case. Merchan rejected a similar motion last summer, finding that Trump “failed to demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic reasons for recusal to be appropriate, much less required.”
In that motion, Trump also cited the work of Merchan’s daughter, as well as $35 in donations Merchan made to the Biden campaign and other left-leaning groups during the 2020 campaign cycle.
But Trump’s latest effort, coming less than two weeks before the scheduled start to the trial, cites “new evidence and changed circumstances.” Among those changed circumstances, Trump claims, is his likely status as the Republican presidential nominee.
“Since the court’s recusal ruling, President Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election,” Trump says in the motion. “The trial that the court has scheduled will impede President Trump’s efforts to campaign against President Biden and Vice President Harris — whose status Authentic actively markets to generate new business — and to support the campaigns of other politicians who are direct opponents of Authentic’s clients.”
Merchan wields “enormous power” in this case to “incarcerate and incapacitate” Trump which could serve to benefit his daughter’s businesses with Democratic election wins, Trump says.
Trump also referenced specific Authentic Campaigns clients, such as California Democrat Adam Schiff of California, who Trump claims has fundraised off of his ongoing legal battles in digital marketing campaigns.
“The Manhattan district attorney’s office has indicted Donald Trump for criminal offenses — the first-ever indictment of a former American president,” Schiff wrote in one fundraising communication, Trump says.
As a result of this “actual conflict,” Trump claims Merchan maintains an “unacceptable appearance of impropriety” and must recuse himself. He adds that it would be “completely unacceptable” to most New Yorkers if the judge presiding over this case had a child who worked at a right-leaning political organization like WinRed or MAGA Inc.
“Personal political views may not be a basis for recusal,” Trump says in the motion. “But profiting from the promotion of a political agenda that is hostile to President Trump, and has included fundraising solicitations based on this case, must be.”
Merchan hasn’t yet ruled on the latest recusal motion, which was filed by Trump attorney Todd Blanche. As it stands, he’s still set to preside over the upcoming trial, set to kick off April 15.
It is expected to be the first of several criminal trials for Trump, who in this case faces 34 charges of falsifying business records. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the charges against Trump last year, claiming that the former president illegally facilitated hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Bragg says Trump instructed his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen to make the payments while he was running for the 2016 presidency in an effort to cover up a past extramarital relationship with Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and has repeatedly denied such a relationship with Daniels.
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