{"id":2000628,"date":"2023-08-14T21:46:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T01:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-judge-refuses-demand-to-step-aside-dismisses-accusations-of-bias-after-donations-to-democrats-exposed\/"},"modified":"2023-08-14T21:49:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T01:49:12","slug":"trump-judge-refuses-demand-to-step-aside-dismisses-accusations-of-bias-after-donations-to-democrats-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-judge-refuses-demand-to-step-aside-dismisses-accusations-of-bias-after-donations-to-democrats-exposed\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Judge Refuses Demand to Step Aside, Dismisses Accusations of Bias After Donations to Democrats Exposed"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-judge-refuses-demand-to-step-aside-dismisses-accusations-of-bias-after-donations-to-democrats-exposed%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2000628&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Trump Judge Refuses Demand \u200cto \u200dStep Aside, Dismisses \u2062Accusations of Bias \u2064After Donations to Democrats Exposed<\/h2>\n<p>The\u200b judge in Donald \u200bTrump\u2019s Manhattan hush-money\u2062 case has rejected the former president\u2019s \u2062demand to step aside, denying defense assertions\u200c that he\u2019s biased against the Republican front-runner because he\u2019s given\u2064 cash to Democrats and his daughter is a party consultant.<\/p>\n<p>New York Judge Juan Manuel Merchan acknowledged in a ruling late Friday\u200d that he made several small donations to Democratic causes during the 2020\u200b campaign, including\u2064 $15 to Trump\u2019s Democratic rival Joe Biden, but\u200d claimed he is certain of his \u201cability to be fair and\u2062 impartial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Removing himself from the case \u201cwould not be\u200d in \u2063the public interest,\u201d Merchan wrote.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>His six-page ruling\u2063 echoed a state court ethics panel\u2019s recent opinion that endorsed his continued involvement in the\u200b Trump case.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The \u200cdecision on recusal was entirely up to Merchan. He \u2062previously rejected a similar \u200drequest when\u2062 Trump\u2019s company, the Trump\u2063 Organization,\u2064 was on\u2063 trial last year on tax fraud \u200bcharges.<\/p>\n<p>Trump attorney Susan Necheles \u2064declined to comment about \u200cthe decision.<\/p>\n<p>The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s\u2063 office, which is prosecuting\u200c the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-attorney-may-be-limited-in-defense-after-texts-with-stormy-daniels-handed-over-to-da-report\/\" title=\"Trump attorney may be limited in defense after texts with Stormy Daniels handed over to DA: Report\">hush-money case<\/a> and said in \u200ccourt papers that it wanted Merchan to remain on the case, also declined\u200d to comment.<\/p>\n<p>The New York trial \u2014 one of three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/soros-backed-manhattan-da-defends-woman-who-stabbed-bodega-worker\/\" title=\"Soros-Backed Manhattan DA Defends Woman Who Stabbed Bodega Worker\">pending criminal cases<\/a> against Trump \u2014 is scheduled\u2063 to start March 25, overlapping with the 2024 presidential primary season as he seeks \u200ba return\u2064 to the \u2063White House.<\/p>\n<p>A \u200bfederal\u2062 judge last \u200bmonth denied Trump\u2019s request to move the\u200c case out of Merchan\u2019s state courtroom and into federal court. The former president is appealing the ruling\u200b that \u200che failed to\u2062 meet\u200b a high legal bar\u200d for changing jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>Trump pleaded\u2063 not guilty in April in Manhattan\u2062 to\u2063 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges relate \u200dto hush-money payments\u200c made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied \u2062wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, Trump is also charged in federal court in Florida \u200bwith \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-judge-refuses-demand-to-step-aside-dismisses-accusations-of-bias-after-donations-to-democrats-exposed\/\" title=\"Trump Judge Refuses Demand to Step Aside, Dismisses Accusations of Bias After Donations to Democrats Exposed\">illegally hoarding classified documents<\/a> \u2064at \u200bhis Mar-a-Lago \u2064estate in Palm Beach and impeding investigators, and in federal \u200dcourt in Washington in connection with actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion.<\/p>\n<p>The former president\u2019s attorneys wanted Merchan off the \u200ccase in part because his\u200d daughter, Loren, is a political \u200bconsultant whose firm\u200c has worked for some of Trump\u2019s Democratic rivals.<\/p>\n<p>Loren Merchan is the president and\u2064 chief operating \u200dofficer\u200b of Authentic Campaigns, \u200da political consulting firm that has \u200bworked on\u200c campaigns for prominent Democrats including Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Judge Merchan, citing the ethics panel\u2019s\u2064 finding that his daughter\u2019s work had no\u2063 bearing \u200bon his\u2062 impartiality, said in\u2063 his ruling\u2063 that Trump\u2019s\u200d lawyers had \u201cfailed \u200bto demonstrate that there exists concrete, or even realistic\u2063 reasons\u2064 for recusal \u2064to be appropriate, much less required on\u2062 these grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump\u2019s\u200c attorneys \u200dalso contended the judge acted inappropriately by \u2063involving\u2063 himself in plea negotiations\u200b last year\u200c for Trump\u2019s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg. Merchan\u2064 said he previously rejected that argument \u2064when\u200c asked to exit the Trump Organization case.<\/p>\n<p>They also raised concerns about the political donations,\u200d asking Merchan to explain three contributions\u2062 totaling $35\u2062 that were \u2063made \u200dto Democratic causes in his name \u2064during the\u200b 2020 election cycle.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Merchan,\u2064 in \u2063his ruling, said the \u201cdonations \u200bat\u200c issue are \u200cself-evident and require no further\u200b clarification\u201d and \u2064pointed to the ethics panel\u2019s conclusion that such \u2064small-dollar contributions wouldn\u2019t require recusal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThese modest political contributions made more \u200bthan two years ago cannot\u2062 reasonably create\u200b an impression\u200d of bias or\u200c favoritism \u2064in the \u2062case before the judge,\u201d the panel wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Merchan, a state \u200dcourt judge in \u2064New York, sought input from the Advisory Committee\u200b on Judicial\u200c Ethics after Trump\u2019s April 4 arraignment, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/u-s-could-send-special-forces-to-ukraine-to-protect-embassy\/\" title=\"U.S. Could Send Special Forces To Ukraine To Protect Embassy\">news outlets started reporting<\/a> on his \u2064political contributions and Trump \u2014\u2062 pointing to the daughter\u2019s work \u2062\u2014 complained that he\u2019s\u2063 \u201ca Trump-hating judge\u201d\u200c with a family full of \u201cTrump haters.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The ethics\u200c panel, in its May 4 opinion, concluded that a\u200c judge in Merchan\u2019s situation \u201cmay\u200d continue to preside \u200cin the matter provided the judge believes he\/she can be fair and impartial.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump\u2019s lawyers sought Merchan\u2019s recusal on May 31, arguing in \u200bcourt papers \u2063that the case is \u201chistoric and it is important that the People of the State of New York and this nation have confidence that the jurist who\u2062 presides over it is impartial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Colangelo, a senior counsel to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, countered\u2064 that Trump\u2019s\u200b recusal motion was the \u200blatest in \u200ca \u2063\u201cprolific history\u2063 of baselessly accusing state and federal \u200bjudges \u2064around the country of bias.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic\">The Western Journal has reviewed \u200cthis Associated Press story\u200b and may have\u200b altered it prior to publication to\u200d ensure that \u2062it meets our editorial standards.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-judge-refuses-demand-step-aside-dismisses-accusations-bias-donations-democrats-exposed\/\">Trump Judge Refuses Demand to Step Aside, Dismisses Accusations of\u2064 Bias After\u2064 Donations \u200bto Democrats \u200dExposed<\/a> \u2063 appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the hush-money case involving Donald Trump, the judge has dismissed his request to recuse himself. The defense claimed bias due to the judge&#8217;s political affiliations and his daughter&#8217;s involvement as a party consultant. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan, a New York judge, acknowledged these allegations but rejected them in a ruling on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":2000629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2000628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}