The New York judge who will preside over the felony trial of former President Donald Trump has prior experience with the defendant.
In the past, Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has presided over Trump-related proceedings.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Merchan was assigned to supervise a subpoena dispute between the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Trump Organization.
According to CNN, this dispute preceded the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud conviction in 2022.
The former president is now charged with 34 felonies by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg.
In a press release issued last month about Trump’s indictment, a prosecutor funded by George Soros accused him of “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity” before and after the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has criticized the persistent legal investigations of his company, personal finances, and conduct as president as nothing but partisan witch hunts conducted by left-leaning local prosecutors.
In light of his past involvement in Trump-related legal matters, a former Manhattan prosecutor deems Merchan’s role in the impending trial to be exceedingly inappropriate.
“There was not a random selection of a judge in this case, and there should have been,” Christopher Brennan, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, told the Journal of Merchan’s assignment.
The selection of Justice Juan Merchan to preside over Donald Trump’s hush-money trial could tangle things up https://t.co/kWqsQeVYBf
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 30, 2023
“He actually should be the last person selected, given the potential conflict,” Brennan said.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
On the contrary, Merchan was selected as the judge in Trump’s felony trial because of his experience in Trump-related legal matters, according to sources familiar with the assignment cited by the Journal.
That history with Trump could complicate the judge’s role in the trial — with Trump’s attorneys likely to scrutinize him for potential bias against their client. CONTINUE READING…