One of the many factors tainting a New York jury’s conviction of former President Donald Trump is the fact that the judge who oversaw the Soviet-style show trial previously donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. The judge’s daughter also represents Democrat clients who raised millions off the trial.
In an unsurprising move, the jury in deep-blue Manhattan found Trump guilty Thursday on all counts related to a payment his then-lawyer made to a pornographer as part of a nondisclosure agreement. The saga marks the first time in U.S. history a major party has weaponized the justice system to convict its chief political opponent ahead of a contested election.
Trump is expected to be sentenced on July 11, which is several days before the Republican presidential nominating convention.
Despite Democrats’ best attempts to cast the show trial as legitimate, the case was rigged against Trump from the start. Case in point: Judge Juan Merchan, who previously donated to Biden’s 2020 reelection bid. According to the New York Post, Merchan “donated $35 to Democratic causes in 2020, including $15 to President Biden’s campaign and $10 to a group dedicated to ‘resisting … Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.'”
The payments were made in July 2020 through ActBlue, an online fundraising platform for Democrats and leftist causes.
Merchan’s antagonism towards Trump was on full display throughout the trial. As my colleague John Daniel Davidson recently explained, Merchan told jurors ahead of deliberations that “they need not agree on what crime Trump allegedly committed to reach a unanimous guilty verdict.”
“According to Judge Merchan, the jury could come back with a guilty verdict without agreeing on whether Trump committed election fraud, tax fraud, or falsification of business records,” Davidson wrote. “He essentially divided the jury into three groups of four, saying that if they’re split 4-4-4 on what crime Trump committed, he’d treat that as unanimous. To say this is unusual is of course a gross understatement.”
In addition to placing a gag order on Trump, Merchan significantly limited the trial testimony of former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith, whose expertise on campaign finance law undermined the case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg against the former president.
But it’s not just Merchan who has financial ties to Democrats. As separately reported by the Post, the judge’s daughter Loren Merchan’s political consulting group — where Loren serves as president — represents two Democrat clients who “raised at least $93 million in campaign donations” after using the Soviet show trial “in their solicitation emails.” One of these clients is notorious Russia collusion hoaxer Adam Schiff.
Loren also previously served as “director of digital persuasion” on now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, according to the report.
Earlier this week, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed a misconduct complaint with New York State Unified Court System, alleging Merchan was “intentionally selected” to oversee Trump’s case.
