As his hush money case moves toward a crucial decision and possible imprisonment next month, Donald Trump has lost his most recent attempt to appoint a new judge.
On Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan denied a plea to step aside, turning down the Republican presidential nominee’s attorneys’ third such request.
They said Merchan has a conflict of interest each of the three times since his daughter works as a political adviser for well-known Democrats and campaigns.
One of these was Vice President Kamala Harris’s bid for the presidency in 2020. Merchan was allowed to proceed with the case last year, according to a state court ethics tribunal, which stated that a relative’s independent political activity is not “a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality.”
Merchan has confidently asserted time and again that he can handle the issue in an objective and fair manner.
However, Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, stated in a statement to the judge last month that the defense’s concerns had grown “even more concrete” now that Harris is the Democratic nominee against him in this year’s presidential contest.
The claims were referred to by the prosecution as “a vexatious and frivolous attempt to relitigate” the matter.