Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) publicly demanded the recusal of the New York City judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money case, then faced immediate blowback.
Stefanik took to X Wednesday to throw her support behind Trump and his effort to get Justice Juan Merchan yanked from the case less than two weeks before it is slated to go to trial.
"Democrat Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan, who donated to Biden’s campaign and another anti-Trump cause in 2020, has a clear judicial bias against President Trump," Stefanik declared. "Merchan’s adult daughter is a Democrat political operative who has financially benefited from her father’s unprecedented trial of President Trump."
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Merchan's daughter, who works for the digital consulting firm Authentic, has been the subject of a week's worth of social media attacks from Trump, spurring concerns for the young woman's safety and a tightened gag order against the former president.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office argued in a court-filed response Wednesday that Trump's recusal motion cited no evidence that Merchan was compromised by his daughter's professional life, and instead relied on a "daisy chain of innuendos."
This did not stop Stefanik from asserting Merchan's accused bias was proven fact.
"The law and common sense absolutely requires Judge Merchan’s recusal from President Trump’s trial," she said. "We cannot allow a biased, far-left activist judge to strip the American people of our constitutional right to select their own leaders.”
Stefanik's statement may have earned kudos from Trump — who has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels — but it was not met with blanket praise on social media.
"Get lost," wrote @shermsielamour. "What have you actually done for your constituents lately?"
"Trump, for the good of the country, should recuse himself from being a presidential candidate," added X user Guy Cimicata.
"Stefanik, please sit this one out," replied Miriam González. "You are not a lawyer and know nothing about the law, except to inject politics into it."
