Left: Donald Trump (Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP). Right: Vice President Kamala Harris (zz/Siegfried Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx)
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush-money case teased a ruling for next week on the convicted felony defendant’s renewed recusal-focused campaign based on “long-standing” professional ties and “beneficial working relationship” between the jurist’s daughter and Vice President Kamala Harris (D).
In an update on Tuesday, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump’s lawyers and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg (D) that he would hand down a decision during the week of Aug. 11 and that an additional reply from the defense on the issue would not be “necessary or helpful at this stage of the proceedings.”
Merchan’s letter to counsel.
In addition, Merchan acknowledged Trump’s pending motion to set aside the 34 falsification of business records guilty verdicts, a motion brought after the U.S. Supreme Court’s immunity decision in Trump v. United States.
Following the Trump immunity-related motion, Merchan previously pushed back sentencing until Sept. 18, and that date “remains unchanged,” the judge emphasized in his letter. But what has changed is the date for ruling on the defense attempt to undo the verdict. The date has moved from Sept. 6 to Sept. 16, two days before the sentencing date.
“Please note, the court appearance scheduled for September 18, 2024, at 10 A.M. remains unchanged. We will proceed on that date and time to the imposition of sentence or other proceedings as appropriate,” he wrote. “Please keep these dates in mind if you still wish to file a pre-sentence recommendation.”
In short, the ruling to keep an eye out for next week relates to recusal.
In May 2023, an ethics panel found Judge Merchan’s “impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned” because of his daughter Loren Merchan’s “business and/or political activities” and that he was “not ethically required to disclose them.” The judge issued his own ruling in August 2023, finding that “recusal would not be in the public interest” and that he was “certain in [his] ability to be fair and impartial.”
In April, after Trump posted about the judge’s daughter, including her name and photo, Merchan expanded an existing gag, ordering the defendant to “refrain” from “making or directing others to make public statements” about “family members of any counsel, staff member, the Court or the District Attorney, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or cause others to materially interfere” with their work.
That part of the gag order is in effect to this day.
More Law&Crime coverage: Trump still can’t go after hush-money judge’s daughter as lawsuit over what’s left of gag order fails — and threats to DA’s staff factored in
The defense has pressed ahead, however, with another recusal bid based on Authentic Campaigns President Loren Merchan’s political consulting work for Harris.
In late July, Trump lawyers claimed that Merchan’s “long-standing and extremely beneficial working relationship” with Harris was even more relevant now considering “changed circumstances,” namely Harris’ replacement of President Joe Biden at top of the Democratic ticket.
“Your Honor’s daughter has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns,” the defense motion said. “She has obtained–and stands to obtain in the future–extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris.”
“Your Honor’s daughter was publicly critical of President Trump’s use of Twitter–a central issue in the pending Presidential immunity motion–and described a discussion on that topic with Your Honor that evidences prejudgment of President Trump’s official-acts arguments,” Trump attorneys added.
Authentic Campaigns’ website lists Kamala Harris for President at the top of its client list.
A blurb under Loren Merchan’s name on the website says she has “managed paid media campaigns for substantial organizations such as UltraViolet, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Voto Latino as well as for venerable candidates like Senators Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Beto O’Rourke, earning several awards for her unique strategy and execution as well as her work reaching underrepresented communities.”
DA Bragg countered that Trump’s “vexatious and frivolous” third recusal bid should fail just as the others did, since “overheated, hyperbolic rhetoric” is no substitute for actual proof that the judge can’t be impartial and fair.
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“Defendant identifies no new facts or changes in the law that warrant a different outcome,” the DA’s office said. “He appears to base his motion on the fact that Vice President Harris is now a candidate for President, rather than Vice President. But defendant’s earlier motions already argued that the Vice President was his political opponent and that the Court’s family member would therefore purportedly benefit somehow from rulings in this case.”
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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