New York Judge Juan Merchan — set to oversee former President Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York — announced Monday that he would not recuse himself from the matter brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dealing with alleged payments made improperly to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
In a court filing dated August 11 and released on Monday, Judge Merchan acknowledged the precedent that a trial judge "must carefully weigh the policy of promoting public confidence in the judiciary against the possibility that those questioning his impartiality might be seeking to avoid the adverse consequences of his presiding over their case."
After making such considerations in Trump's case, Merchan concluded that "recusal would not be in the public interest" after examining his "conscience" and deciding he's "certain" in his "ability to be fair and impartial."
As such, Trump's motion for Merchan to recuse himself was "denied on all grounds" and Trump's legal team will have to make its case at a trial overseen by Merchan.
News–
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) August 14, 2023
A Manhattan judge REFUSES to recuse himself from Trump's criminal hush-money case in New York.
Justice Merchan said he "examined" his "conscience" — and knows he can be "fair and impartial."
Story and full ruling soon, @TheMessenger pic.twitter.com/vGI825BPHY
The Trump Team's motion came as a result of revelations in Townhall that Merchan had made financial contributions to Democrat political causes, but the judge insisted in the filing that such facts did not warrant his recusal from Trump's case.
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Saying that "the reported political contributions are a de minimus donation, not warranting recusal," Merchan stated that such contributions "do not raise a plausible concern regarding the appearance of impartiality" since identifying with a political party "is not an indication that a judge is incapable of acting impartially."
That is, the judge was asked to recuse himself, he checked his own biases, and decided there were none to report.
As Townhall reported earlier this summer, Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an untested legal strategy that the former president's team says smacks of the same dubious grounds as the Russia collusion hoax. Trump entered a plea of "not guilty" on all counts and has maintained his innocence.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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