House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote to Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, Thursday, requesting information regarding her campaign firm’s “work on behalf of President [Donald] Trump’s political adversaries and the financial benefit” her firm may have received from his prosecution and conviction.
Merchan’s father presided over New York County District Attorney (DANY) Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Trump, which Jordan says “used a convoluted and novel legal theory to indict President Trump on charges that federal officials had previously declined” to pursue.
Jordan says his committee has heard expert testimony “detailing the conflicts of interest of” Judge Merchan, and that “[e]xperts have raised substantial concerns with Judge Merchan, your father, refusing to recuse himself from President Trump’s case despite your work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the financial benefit that your firm, Authentic Campaigns Inc., could receive from the prosecution and conviction.”
Jordan says after Bragg indicted Trump in April 2023 and Judge Merchan’s court convicted Trump in May 2024, Loren Merchan’s clients received a flood of donations after directly campaigning on the guilty verdict.
He writes:
Since the indictments, two of Authentic Campaigns’ top clients—Representative Adam Schiff and the Senate Majority PAC—have raised “at least $93 million in campaign donations” while referencing the indictments in their solicitation emails. Notably, according to one report, Representative Schiff’s campaign for U.S. Senate has received “$20 million in aid since he began soliciting donations off the presumptive GOP presidential front-runner’s unprecedented 34-count indictment last April.” The Senate Majority PAC similarly has “pocketed $73.6 million since it also began firing off fundraising emails following the ex-president’s indictment.” At a minimum, there is a perception that you and Authentic Campaigns could profit considerably from President Trump’s prosecution in a forum overseen by your father.
Additionally, the Biden-Harris campaign paid Authentic Campaigns just over $2 million in a one-month period for its work, according to public records Jordan cites.
The Judiciary Committee is leading House efforts to consider legislation “that would remedy politically motivated local prosecutions by allowing a current or former president to remove the case to a more neutral forum in federal court,” Jordan says in his letter. “If such a measure were in place at the time, Judge Merchan would not have presided over President Trump’s trial.”
Jordan and his committee have zeroed in on possible misconduct by Bragg and Merchan.
Jordan writes:
In testimony to the Committee, experts have explained how Judge Merchan made several errors before and during President Trump’s trial that violated due process, infringed upon his First Amendment rights, and prevented him from receiving a fair trial. Among other fundamental errors, Judge Merchan admitted into evidence plainly inadmissible, irrelevant, and prejudicial testimony against President Trump, while limiting President Trump’s ability to rebut it. Judge Merchan issued a gag order to prohibit President Trump from making statements about the judge’s family members, including you and your political advocacy work on behalf of Democrats. Judge Merchan refused to recuse himself, despite his close ties to Democrat-aligned interests and the likelihood that your political advocacy firm could benefit financially from his rulings. Judge Merchan’s bias was so obvious that one former federal prosecutor, a left-wing legal analyst, disagreed forcefully with Judge Merchan’s decision not to recuse, stating that he “absolutely should have recused himself[.]”
Jordan asks Loren Merchan for documents pertaining to her firm’s work with the Biden-Harris campaign and other relevant Democratic campaigns as well as committees, and internal documents referencing “lawfare” against Trump. He asks for the documents by 5:00 pm EST August 8, 2024.
Related: WATCH — Trump’s Lawyer Alina Habba: Democrats “Can’t Stop Him with the Votes” so They’re Using “Lawfare”
Matt Perdie / Breitbart News
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
