Donald Trump's lawyers last week filed a request for the judge presiding over his hush-money case to recuse himself due to his daughter's political work. On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan declined.
“There is no agenda here,” Merchan said Monday, The New York Times reported. “We want to follow the law. We want justice to be done.”
Trump's lawyers had sought a recusal on the grounds that Merchan's daughter works for a Authentic, a firm that has done business with Democrats, including the Biden campaign.
“Authentic and Your Honor’s daughter are making money by supporting the creation and dissemination of campaign advocacy for President Trump’s opponent, political rivals, and the Democrat party,” Trump's lawyers argued in the rejected motion, as The Hill noted. A similar motion was rejected last year, part of a months-long campaign to delay Trump's election interference trial.
Merchan said Monday that the latest Trump motion relied on “a series of references, innuendos and unsupported speculation.” His comment came after a meeting with the state ethics advisory committee, which determined that his daughter’s employment and political donations did not provide adequate reason for him to step aside.
Merchan's decision to stay on the case is a tough if predictable blow to the Trump team, which had been pursuing a strategy to throw as much sand in the gears as possible. With jury selection beginning Monday, that strategy can be said to have failed.
Over the weekend, Trump fumed about his predicament on Truth Social, accusing "a totally conflicted Judge, a Corrupt Prosecutor, a Legal System in CHAOS, a State being overrun by violent crime and corruption, and crooked Joe Biden's henchmen" of rigging the system against him.
The prosecuting team, led by Manhattan District Attorney Adam Bragg, has filed 34 felony charges against Trump, accusing him of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, buying her silence on the eve of the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
