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On Tuesday, April 4, Donald Trump lashed out at the family of Judge Juan Merchan, the official who is overseeing his arraignment in Manhattan. Trump is currently on trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Besides the accusations pertaining to business records, it has come to light that the former US President also supposedly paid hush money to Stormy Daniels to cover up their alleged extra-marital affair. While this is not strictly a crime, he documented the payments as legal fees, which is illegal.
During the arraignment, Donald Trump accused Judge Juan Merchan of having an unfair bias against him. He noted that Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, is the President of a consulting firm that has worked with Trump's political rival, Joe Biden.
Donald Trump attacked the career of Loren Merchan
According to Donald Trump, the Joe Biden administration handpicked court officials to prop charges against him, with the ultimate aim of removing him as a potential political rival.
Trump and his sons brought up 34-year-old Loren Merchan's history of working with democratic politicians, such as current Vice President Kamala Harris and Representative Adam Schiff.
Loren Merchan is a Partner and President of Authentic Campaigns, a digital firm that works on the campaigns of leading democratic politicians.
As per her LinkedIn profile, she began in the company as a Director of Digital Persuasion, working on Kamala Harris' 2020 Presidential campaign. She continued to work with Harris when she began her campaign as Joe Biden's Vice President.
Over the years, she has risen up the company hierarchy to become a Partner, President, and COO of the firm.
Merchan's social media profile reveals that she is married to Taylor Harper, a geographer with the US census. Her father and presiding Judge in the Trump case, Juan Merchan, officiated the wedding in Virginia.
Trump's allegations against the Merchan family
Donald Trump stated that due to the judge's indirect link to Kamala Harris and other Democrats, it was clear that the case was part of a larger conspiracy.
He alleged:
“And this is where we are right now. I have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign, and a lot of it.”
Donald's second son, Eric Trump, argued that Loren Merchan's career clearly indicated that Biden aimed to undermine Donald Trump's political influence throughout the court case.
Eric Trump said:
“It is all pre-arranged. This corruption is on a different level.”
As reported by Mediate, Trump also added that Juan Merchan had presided over the Trump organization's tax fraud trial. He proceeded to post pictures of Loren Merchan on social media accounts, something which could potentially be perceived as an intimidation tactic.
In response, Judge Juan Merchan warned the former President to cease all threats on social media. He said that the inflammatory remarks could possibly incite violence. The judge did not, however, announce an official gag order.
Newsweek reported that Trump continues to maintain his innocence in the case. He claims that he never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, and that he never paid the adult film star any sum of money. The case against the former President is currently ongoing.
