Former President Donald Trumprecently indicted in a court of NY for falsifying payments made to a porn film actresshas launched it head-on against the judge of Colombian origin in charge of the process and his family, including his daughter and wife.
(See here: Secret payments to a doorman and a former Playboy bunny: the cases that dot Trump)
Both Trump and his sons lined up the batteries against Juan Merchanthe judge, and Loren Merchán, his 34-year-old daughter, whom they accuse of being in the “pocket” of the Democrats and being part of a conspiracy for political purposes that seeks to prevent his return to the White House.
(Also read: This is the Colombian judge who has Trump’s legal fate in his hands)
Through trills on social networks, the former president and his children maintain that the judge presides over a “kangaroo court”, a term used in the United States to describe a court that jumps from one side to another to favor an agenda, and that it hates for conservative and republican.
Although Trump had already taken action against Judge Merchán since last week when it was announced that he would be in charge of prosecuting him, now he has begun to air Loren’s ties to the Democratic Party.
That’s because Merchán’s daughter is the president of a consulting firm, Authentic Campaignwho has worked on political campaigns and cites many people from this party as clients.
Between them, that of Vice President Kamala Harris when she aspired to the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 2020 presidential elections and from the same presidential campaign of Joe Biden and Harrisonce Biden won the nomination that year and named Harris as his running mate.
This is because Merchán’s daughter is the president of a consulting firm, Authentic Campaign, which has worked on political campaigns and cites many people from this party as clients.
Likewise, the campaigns of Senator Cori Booker, House Representative Adam Schiff and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
In fact, Authentic Campaign, on its website, lists these people as clients as proof of its wide reach and relevance as a consulting firm.
Trump has also said that the judge was “very hostile” against his company last year when he led two other lawsuits against the company. and his chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.
In the case of the companies, it was a jury made up of 13 people who found them guilty of tax evasion. Weisselberg, for his part, admitted his guilt after reaching a plea bargain. Merchán, in the case of the companies, determined the amount of the sanction (US$ 1.6 million) and accepted the terms of the arrangement, reaching the chief financial officer.
Both Trump and his sons now say the judge was “handpicked” by Biden to bring him down. “Everything is pre-agreed. This is corruption on another level,” wrote Eric Trump, one of the former president’s sons.
“And this is where we are now. I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now he receives money, and a lot of it, from the Biden-Harris campaign,” said the former president.
Merchán was born in Bogotá (Colombia), But he emigrated to the United States at the age of six, where he studied elementary school, high school, and then law at Hofstra University, a prestigious educational center in New York. Since then he has had an outstanding judicial career and is one of the highest level judges on the New York circuit.
Lawyers and prosecutors alike, including those who defended the Trump organization in the fraud case, have described him as a fair and impartial judge.
I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now gets money, and lots of it, from the Biden-Harris campaign.
Trump’s comments against both the judge and his family are explosive and could have consequences if they are interpreted as an attack on the judicial authorities. In fact, Merchán, at Tuesday’s hearing, asked Trump not to make comments that incite violence or attacks against the parties.
It’s unclear how the judge will respond to his comments, especially after Trump posted a photo of his daughter on social media. But the magistrate has the power to issue a “gag order,” or gag order in English, to prevent such attacks. In case of violating the order, the defendant can be fined or even arrested if he repeats it.
Many see in this a strategy by Trump and his defense to try to get the judge to declare himself impeded due to a conflict of interest (due to his daughter’s ties to the Democratic Party) and to appoint another judge in a jurisdiction that is more convenient for him. favorable.
Something that the former president himself has already begun to suggest indicating that the case should be transferred to Staten Island (also in New York) and before a judge who does not hate it.
Although on paper his daughter’s work with people affiliated with the Democratic Party does not disqualify Merchánin the charged political environment that exists in the United States –especially in this case– it would not be strange if the jurist chose to step aside.
But against that there is a powerful, and current, counterargument that could nullify the pressure of the former president and his supporters. Ginni Thomas, the wife of one of the nine justices that make up the Supreme Court, is openly “Trumpist.”
To the point that he promoted lies about fraud in the 2020 presidential election and helped finance the work of groups seeking to discredit the election result. He even spoke on several occasions with former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows about a “plan” to prevent Biden’s rise to power.
Thomas was called to testify last year before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 insurrection and her role, if any, is yet to be defined.
Despite this, Justice Thomas has not recused himself from any of the cases that have reached the Supreme Court about the alleged fraud and has said that he has no intention of doing so in the future either.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
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