Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, July 30, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Call it the trickle down effect of going after Donald Trump.
You own a Democrat consulting firm and your daddy is presiding over Trump's "hush money" trial. Need we say more?
Loren Merchan, daughter of Judge Juan Merchan and owner of Authentic Campaigns, has raked in a cool $12.7 million from Democrats in the first six months of 2024, a report said.
According to the firm’s website, Authentic Campaigns specializes in “digital marketing and fundraising.”
"The boom in business coincided with Trump’s six-week trial in Merchan’s Manhattan courtroom, which began on April 15. Prior to the start of the jury trial, Merchan repeatedly sided with (Manhattan District Attorney Alvin) Bragg while demonstrating open hostility to the former president. Merchan imposed a gag order early on and then proceeded to deny nearly every defense motion," investigative journalist Julie Kelly reported on July 29.
"Merchan, of course, should never have been near the case but he thwarted every legal attempt to get him removed," Kelly added.
Trump's legal team last year had called on Judge Merchan to step aside after details emerged of Loren Merchan’s financial ties to top Democrats including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the judge’s own small donations to Democrats.
“Your Honor’s daughter’s close connection to President Trump’s political adversaries and her work at, and financial interest in, a firm which is deeply engrained with Democratic politics raises real and legitimate concerns about this Court’s impartiality,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in May 2023 shortly after Merchan was assigned to handle the case. “The financial well-being of Your Honor’s daughter depends at least in part on the success of Authentic. And Authentic’s business model is one that requires it to attack President Trump and support individuals and causes in direct competition with President Trump.”
In denying Trump's request to recuse himself, Merchan claimed that accusations his daughter stood to profit off the case were “speculative and hypothetical.”
A huge chunk of the funds poured into Loren Merchan's business this year have come from one of Trump's most outspoken opponents in Congress, none other than "Pencil Neck" himself, Rep. Adam Schiff of California.
Kelly noted that Schiff "has paid Merchan’s firm roughly $8 million so far this year; the Trump-Russia collusion hoaxster currently is running against former MLB player Steve Garvey to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate."
Trump was scheduled to be sentenced in the New York "hush money" case this month, but Judge Merchan postponed that proceeding until September pending consideration of a motion to vacate the conviction based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Kelly noted: "While the move may appear magnanimous, no doubt Merchan has ulterior motives in delaying the historic event until the height of the 2024 campaign season. After all, another appearance before Trump a few months before Election Day can only be good for the Merchan family business."
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