President Donald Trump sicced federal prosecutors on the daughter of the man who oversaw his criminal hush money trial, according to a new report.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago has spent the past year investigating Judge Juan Merchan's daughter Loren's ties to a Democratic fund-raising firm whose clients included former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, the New York Times reported.
"The inquiry is the latest indication of the extent to which U.S. attorneys offices across the country, once largely removed from political machinations in Washington, have increasingly been drawn into the [sic] Mr. Trump’s effort to target his adversaries," the report stated.
"It is not clear where the investigation stands."
Authentic Campaigns Inc., formerly co-owned by Merchan, was directed by U.S. attorney Andrew Boutros to cough up a slew of records from their internal communications with clients, according to the report.
The investigation began one year after a jury in Judge Merchan's New York City courtroom found Trump guilty of cooking his books to cover up hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
"The Merchan family has been a frequent target of Mr. Trump and his allies, who have made unsubstantiated claims that the judge was out to get him and that his daughter profited from accusations aired at the trial," the report noted.
Prosecutors demanded information about a $468 payment from Harris’s presidential campaign, and emails between Merchan and her father, sources told the Times.
Mike Nellis, founder of Authentic Campaigns, lashed out at Trump and his administration in a comment to the Times.
“The Trump administration’s targeting of my company is an outrageous abuse of power,” Nellis said. “It is a ridiculous fishing expedition based on conspiracy theories that are completely divorced from reality.”
Nellis accused the department of hunting for “sensitive political communications of my clients who are among Trump’s most prominent political adversaries.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman, Judge Merchan and his daughter all declined to comment.