Democrats have turned their Lawfare regime against Trump and his supporters. Voters should remember this in November.
To “Get Trump,” Judge Juan Merchan turned his courtroom into a crime scene.
Merchan unleashed irregularities, torpedoed judicial norms, perpetrated injustices, violated state laws, shredded civil rights, and wiped his shoes on the U.S. Constitution. In cahoots with his co-persecutor, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Merchan on Thursday buffaloed 12 jurors into finding Donald J. Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsification of business records.
On November 5, 161 million registered voters should reverse this shonda.
There are abundant reasons for the American people to exonerate Trump after a show trial that would have charmed Joseph Stalin.
Defying New York State’s Uniform Rules For Courts Exercising Criminal Jurisdiction, Section 200.11(c), Merchan did not receive New York State vs. Donald J. Trump via a “method of random selection.” Instead, the court’s administrative judge hand-picked Merchan for this duty. Merchan refereed two earlier Trump Organization matters and will supervise the upcoming prosecution of former Trump advisor Steve Bannon. Merchan has become New York’s illegally designated “Get Trump” judge. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R – New York) on May 29 filed an ethics complaint to investigate this corruption.
Notwithstanding Trump’s motion under Criminal Procedure Laws CPL § 230.20 and § 230.30, Merchan rejected defense requests for a new venue. Trump’s lawyers feared (presciently) that their client had “reasonable cause to believe that a fair and impartial trial” could not take place in New York County, AKA Manhattan.
In 2020, Biden won New York State 60.8 percent to 37.7 percent for Trump, according to Wikipedia. However, among the Empire State’s 62 counties, Biden’s widest margin was in New York County, which went 86.4 percent for Biden versus 12.2 percent for Trump.
It would have been similarly unfair to Bragg to move the trial to Wyoming County (Trump’s best), where Biden won just 26.1 percent to 71.5 percent for Trump.
A more equitable venue would have been Monroe (home to Rochester), which most closely mirrored the state; it voted for Biden 59.25 percent to 38.2 percent for Trump. A perfectly even jury pool could have sprung from Long Island’s Suffolk County. It split Solomonically 49.3 percent for Biden to 49.3 percent for Trump.
Merchan would have none of this.
But if a change of venue made no sense in this high-profile trial, then when would it?
Under New York State’s Judiciary Law Article 2 § 14, Merchan should have recused himself since “he is related by consanguinity or affinity to any party to the controversy within the sixth degree.”
Merchan’s first-degree blood relative is his daughter, Loren Merchan, a Democrat Party activist. She was director of digital persuasion for the Kamala Harris for the People campaign in 2019. She now is president of Authentic Campaigns, a digital-marketing and communications operation. Authentic’s website invokes Trump’s name to generate new business. President Joe Biden appears right up front, among the candidates whom Authentic has served.
Trump’s attorneys estimate that Authentic has scored $18 million from its clients since April 2023, when Bragg indicted Trump. Authentic’s clients, meanwhile, raised at least $93 million via Authentic’s digital ads that mentioned Trump’s case.
