The prosecutors in a case brought against national poll-leading presidential candidate Donald Trump is scrambling to limit its credibility losses. Already gagged by Justice Juan Merchan, Trump was ordered to not to verbally attack witnesses, jurors, court staff, prosecuting attorneys...or their families. However, the original gag did not include either Bragg, Merchan, or their families.
The expanded version does.
This defensive mid-stream adjustment comes after a flurry of messages by Trump on his platform Truth concerning the daughter of Justice Merchan. Ms. Loren Merchan is accused of sending tweets portraying President Trump behind bars, and of carrying on in malicious discussions about Trump, some with her father.
When presented with the evidence, the Merchan/Bragg team suggested with a straight face that Ms. Merchan's account had been "taken over" by someone else a year prior...after Merchan deleted it. One can almost Hillary Clinton coughing.
Further, Trump alleged that Merchan's views are colored by his daughter's career, which is closely tied to influential Democrats such as Adam Schiff, who has collected an eyebrow-raising $20 million since partnering with Justice Merchan's daughter.
“[Justice Merchan] should do the right thing and immediately recuse himself in order to show the American people that the Democrats have not destroyed our justice system completely … him continuing to be involved in this Crooked Joe Biden-directed Witch Hunt is a complete violation of applicable rules, regulations and ethics.”
The optics are bad. Ms. Merchan is the president of Authentic Campaigns, a powerful political consulting firm that works exclusively with liberal clients. Clients have raised surprising amounts of money with the services of Ms. Merchan's firm.
Of course, raising money isn't illegal. Using the case against Trump in solicitation material for the firm? Unethical, but also legally questionable for Ms. Merchan while dear old dad is presiding over the case.
The trial begins in two weeks, on April 15th.
