Attorneys for former President Donald Trump revealed this week that they asked the judge overseeing Trump’s hush money case in New York for permission to file a second request that the judge recuse himself from the case.
The attorneys said, according to a footnote of a court document filed Monday, that they submitted a letter to Judge Juan Merchan with their request to file the new motion.
“Along with this opposition brief, President Trump is simultaneously submitting a pre-motion letter seeking leave to file a recusal motion based on changed circumstances and newly discovered evidence,” the attorneys wrote.
The attorneys suggested the recusal request would center around Merchan’s daughter, who, they noted, is an executive of Authentic Campaigns, a top Democratic marketing firm.
Trump first raised issue with Loren Merchan last summer when he filed his initial request that Juan Merchan recuse himself from the case. The judge, however, denied the request, saying a judicial ethics panel found his daughter did not present a conflict of interest for the judge.
While Trump’s attorneys did not specify what new evidence they had obtained, Federal Election Commission data shows Loren Merchan’s company has seen a lucrative 2024 election cycle, due in part to one of Trump’s most vocal critics, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Schiff’s Senate campaign has since the beginning of last year paid Authentic Campaigns more than $11 million for advertising services, according to Federal Election Commission data. Authentic Campaigns has also provided services to Vice President Kamala Harris, the running mate of Trump’s leading opponent in the 2024 election.
Schiff, moreover, explicitly advertised off of Trump’s case in Manhattan last year when District Attorney Alvin Bragg first brought charges against the former president over accusations he falsified business records in the wake of the 2016 election, according to the New York Post.
Trump’s attorneys observed in their filing on Monday that “one member of the Court’s immediate family [has] a financial interest in all ongoing attacks on President Trump, including this case, by virtue of her senior role at Authentic.”
Trump has in the past week on Truth Social revived his criticisms of Juan and Loren Merchan, calling the younger Merchan a “Rabid Trump Hater” who works for “radical leftists who campaign on ‘getting Trump.’” Trump also posted articles featuring photos of Merchan.
The posts prompted Juan Merchan to expand a gag order he imposed on Trump to restrict the former president from speaking about his own family members or those of his staff, rendering Loren Merchan off limits to Trump’s attacks as of Monday. The judge said the order was necessary because Trump’s remarks spur threats and create a serious risk for those he targets.
Trump responded on Tuesday by blasting Juan Merchan for the order, saying he had just been “GAGGED” and that he could no longer “talk about the corruption and conflicts taking place” in the judge’s courtroom.
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“They can talk about me, but I can’t talk about them??? That sounds fair, doesn’t it? This Judge should be recused, and the case should be thrown out,” Trump wrote. “There has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one.”
It is unclear at this stage how Juan Merchan will react to the defense attorneys’ request for permission to seek the judge’s recusal once again. The trial in the case is set to begin with jury selection in less than two weeks, on April 15.