The daughter of the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s New York hush-money trial has two significant Democratic clients who have raised over $93 million in campaign donations by fundraising off the criminal case. These clients, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and the Senate Majority PAC, are clients of Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm where Loren Merchan, the daughter of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is president.
In August, Merchan rejected Trump’s first recusal motion, but Trump spokesman Steven Chung says the evidence of bias is even clearer now, telling the New York Post, “Authentic Campaigns, and thus the judge’s daughter, is actively making money from this sham attack against President Trump, rendering Judge Merchan conflicted out.”
Adam Schiff’s Senate campaign has garnered a staggering $20 million in donations since it started seeking contributions based on Trump’s 34-count indictment last April, per Federal Election Commission records.
A Schiff’s fundraising email read:
It is a somber moment, and unprecedented for a former president to be indicted, but his alleged offenses are also unprecedented. Trump will respond as he always does — playing the victim and blaming others for having the temerity to investigate him in the first place.
The Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC linked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), has received $73.6 million in donations since it began sending out fundraising emails following Trump’s indictment.
The PAC sent an email that said:
BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury. This is an important moment for our democracy, but our work isn’t over. We must continue protecting our Senate majority from GOP extremists. Please, rush in $10 (becomes $60) to help Defend the Senate.
The super PAC has engaged in transactions exceeding $15 million with Authentic since 2019, which includes services such as email fundraising and branding assistance. Additionally, Schiff’s Senate campaign has paid Authentic over $10 million for digital advertising and various consulting services in the past year.
Loren Merchan, who previously worked as the “director of digital persuasion” for Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign, has expressed her father’s disapproval of politicians using Twitter, citing Trump as an example.
During a 2019 podcast appearance, she said:
I’ve actually had a couple conversations with my dad recently where he’s kind of like ‘I hate that politicians use Twitter,’ and like ‘it’s so unprofessional’ and you know, ‘that’s not how a politician should behave themselves,’ and I explain that like yeah I think there are a lot of instances where it is not used in, like when our President [Trump] tweets anything that he thinks, and like that’s not what he should be using it for.
Trump took aim at Judge Merchan and his conflicts of interest in several social media posts made this week.
On Tuesday, after Merchan imposed a partial gag order on Trump, he wrote on Truth Social:
Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. In other words, he hates me!
His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam “Shifty” Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden.
He was recently the judge on an unrelated trial of a long term employee, elderly and not in good health. This judge treated him viciously, telling him either you cooperate or I’m putting you in jail for 15 years. He pled, and went to jail for very minor offenses, highly unusual, served 4 months in Rikers, and now they are after him again, this time for allegedly lying (doesn’t look like a lie to me!), and they threatened him again with 15 years if he doesn’t say something bad about “TRUMP.” He is devastated and scared!
These COUNTRY DESTROYING SCOUNDRELS & THUGS HAVE NO CASE AGAINST ME. WITCH HUNT!
Judge Merchan contributed $15 to President Biden’s 2020 campaign and has backed various other Democratic initiatives.
The recent fundraising revelations have renewed calls for Judge Merchan to recuse himself from presiding over Trump’s upcoming April 15 trial, prompting Trump’s lawyers to consider filing another motion demanding Merchan’s recusal.