Speaking on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley implicitly criticized the choice of ...
Speaking on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley implicitly criticized the choice of Judge Juan Manuel Merchan for the Donald Trump business records trial in New York, pointing out that the judge had made a political contribution to Joe Biden.
“A lot of people are confused by this because it’s very clear that they say you can’t make political contributions,” Turley commented. “Well, he did. And the fact that it is ‘de minimis’ or small, really, I think, misses the point. You make donations like that to show your support, that’s what that $15 did. “
“What’s also concerning for many is that Merchan was not randomly selected; he was hand-picked as the judge for this case, and many of us don’t understand it,” he continued. “You’ve got a judge who is a donor to the president, whose daughter is a major Democratic operative, you would think this would be an easy call. There are plenty of other judges.”
Merchan’s daughter Loren serves as president of the political consulting firm Authentic Campaigns, which represents Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the lead prosecutor in the first impeachment trial of former President Trump.
“Schiff’s campaign for US Senate scored an eye-popping $20 million in aid since he began soliciting donations off the presumptive GOP presidential front-runner’s unprecedented 34-count indictment last April, according to Federal Election Commission records,” The New York Postnoted.
“So he’s not going to be held accountable to the bar association, but this is one of the many aspects of this trial that are troubling for those who view this as the weaponization of the system,” Turley opined of Merchan.
Turley also criticized Merchan for his handling of the case, saying, “He’s allowed this jury to hear over and over again about election violations. Donald Trump did not commit an election violation. There’s no such violation in this case connected to his payments to [Michael] Cohen. My assumption is that the jury thinks that there were and that you’re allowing Cohen and [former National Enquirer publisher David] Pecker effectively to inform the jury on federal election law until you issue an instruction.”
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