Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers are calling for the judge overseeing his hush money trial to be dismissed, claiming he could be compromised.
Trump attorney David Schoen lashed out against New York City Judge Juan Merchan, insisting that he has no interest in playing fair.
Schoen pointed out that Merchan’s daughter works at a campaign firm serving Democrat clients, claiming he would not be impartial to the former president.
“The American Bar Association put out a thing last week or so, saying that the lawyers should be standing up for these judges. I don’t have an interest in standing up for a judge who shouldn’t be on a case,” Schoen said during an interview with Newsmax.
He cited New York law 100.3 e(1)d(iii) which claims that a judge is required to remove themselves from a trial in the case that “a person known by the judge to be within the sixth degree of relationship” has an “interest that could be substantially affected” by how the case moves forward.
Schoen made it aware that Merchan’s daughter has worked as a partner and a president at Authentic Campaigns— “a full-service digital marketing agency for non-profits and campaigns”— which has worked with several Democrat candidates, as well as President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
“We know that the judge and his daughter have a vested interest in making sure this case isn’t dismissed and goes on. The integrity of the system suffers when this happens, and I think you'll see President Trump go up in the polls,” the attorney said.
The agency raised $93 million in campaign donations, to which The Epoch Times pointed out that they used “President Trump’s case in their communications soliciting donations.”
Schoen also questioned the jury selection in the Trump trial— which lasted three days.
"How is it [they were] picking the jury faster than was anticipated," he said. "It's not hard if you refuse to dismiss jurors for cause, who clearly qualify for dismissal for cause.”
He said that he hopes at least “one good juror who has some common sense and sees this for the political prosecution that it is and is offended by that."