Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked Judge Juan Merchan to deny Donald Trump’s request that the judge recuse himself from the former president’s hush money case, according to a court letter made public on Friday.
Prosecutors for Bragg argued that Vice President Kamala Harris becoming Trump’s 2024 election opponent was an irrelevant detail, despite Harris enlisting the marketing services of Juan Merchan’s daughter in recent years.
The prosecutors called the request a “vexatious and frivolous attempt to relitigate an issue that was twice addressed by this Court.”
Their remarks came in response to Trump making a third request this week for Juan Merchan to recuse himself from the hush money case on the grounds that his daughter’s line of work at a top Democratic marketing firm presented a conflict of interest for the judge. Juan Merchan denied the last two requests, citing an independent panel determining that Loren Merchan’s work for the firm Authentic Campaigns did not create a conflict.
Trump argued that Harris emerging last month as Trump’s opponent in the presidential race elevated the need for recusal. Prosecutors disagreed.
“Indeed, defendant rests his latest motion on the same affirmation he presented in support of his April 3 motion. This regurgitated showing does not come close to meeting the standard to renew,” the prosecutors wrote.
Loren Merchan is an executive at Authentic Campaigns, a marketing firm for Democratic politicians who have included Harris, Joe Biden, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Trump’s attorneys observed in their latest recusal request that while Merchan worked at Authentic Campaigns, the firm was “the top vendor” for Harris’s failed 2020 presidential campaign and received over $5 million from it.
“Your Honor’s daughter has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns. She has obtained — and stands to obtain in the future — extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
The defense attorneys noted how Authentic Campaigns has received, according to Federal Election Commission records, more than $12 million in 2024 from Democratic politicians and groups. Citing recent public reports, they also pointed to Authentic’s founder, who is Loren Merchan’s colleague, leading “White Dudes for Harris,” an effort that has raised millions of dollars for Harris’s campaign.
When Harris launched her presidential bid, her opening ad painted her as a prosecutor and Trump as a criminal. It highlighted Harris’s background as a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.
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Trump’s attorneys argued that decisions Juan Merchan has left to make in Trump’s case, including a forthcoming decision on Trump’s challenges to his guilty verdict and Trump’s sentencing, “would benefit not only Harris but also the professional aspirations and financial status of Your Honor’s daughter and Authentic.”
Prosecutors wrote in their response that Trump’s defense team was merely making a “speculative series of claims” rather than providing conclusive evidence that Juan Merchan’s family member would directly profit from Trump’s conviction.
