Trump targets Judge Merchan's daughter in motion seeking recusal from hush money case

Former President Donald Trump has been allowed to move forward with a complaint to the court in the Manhattan hush money case, demanding the recusal of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan.

The complaint, which spans 35 pages, lists a number of grievances that Trump has with the judge, including yet another attack on the judge's daughter, who he has repeatedly made a bogeyman in posts on social media.

"Your Honor’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a direct financial interest in these proceedings by virtue of her ownership stake and leadership role at Authentic Campaigns, Inc. Based on public disbursements data, Authentic, which services exclusively Democrat [sic] clients, is the #21 ranked vendor in the country in connection with the 2024 election," wrote Trump's attorneys. "President Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee and leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election."

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The complaint went on that Trump's "success in the primaries, which followed the Court’s ruling on the previous recusal motion, has cemented his status as a political target of Authentic, Ms. Merchan, and their clients."

Trump's attorneys also listed a number of other arguments, including that some Democratic candidates that worked with that vendor have issued fundraising solicitations that mention Trump's indictment, and the fact that Judge Merchan gave a media interview in which he said he wanted "to make sure that I’ve done everything I could to be prepared and to make sure that we dispense justice."

This comes after a lengthy process in which Trump and several of his co-defendants in the Georgia election racketeering case filed similar challenges, based on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' romantic relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade. Following a fraught ethics hearing, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee determined that Willis could remain on the case as long as Wade resigned, which he promptly did.