Judge Juan Manuel Merchan, a leftist overseeing President Trump’s upcoming criminal case in New York City starting on March 25, has made political contributions to a nonprofit fundraising platform supporting Democratic candidates and progressive groups.
The case involves a payment Trump made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election and has been brought forward by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Judge Merchan previously sentenced Trump’s former CFO to five months in prison for alleged tax fraud.
These actions are part of ongoing legal battles initiated by New York Democrats against Trump in an attempt to prevent his return to the White House.
Financial records show that Judge Merchan donated to Act Blue with designations such as “Stop The Republicans” and “Biden For President.”
Act Blue, a Democratic fundraising platform, has emerged as the primary payment processor for the majority of political contributions made by Democrats during the 2020 campaign cycle, according to a report by DC Patriot.
“Although the dollar amounts were what some would be considered small, this proves impartiality towards Donald Trump. Donating to both the former and future expected counterpart on the presidential ballot is a huge deal, and something that cannot go unnoticed,” the outlet reported.
Below are screenshots of the political contributions of Juan Merchan on FEC.gov:
Act Blue also helped raised money for Alvin Bragg’s campaign.
Massive conflict of interest with Alvin Bragg’s judge!
Judge Merchan didn’t just contribute to democrats, he contributed to STOP REPUBLICANS! Sounds like the dude has a vendetta! https://t.co/64wvr0IRw3
— Bad Kitty Unleashed 🦁 (@pepesgrandma) April 5, 2023
Judge Merchan had previously presided over the tax fraud cases involving the Trump Organization and its former CFO, Allen Weisselberg.
Trump is not a fan of Merchan and took to Truth Social last week and wrote “Juan Manuel Merchan, was hand-picked by Bragg & the Prosecutors, & is the same person who “railroaded” my 75 year old former CFO, Allen Weisselberg.”
More of Juan Merchan from NPR:
Last year, Merchan oversaw the closely watched criminal tax fraud case against Trump’s company, which was ultimately found guilty by a Manhattan jury. Trump himself was not a defendant in that case.
Two business entities controlled by Trump were found guilty of 17 counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records and were ordered to pay the maximum penalty of $1.61 million.
During the proceedings, Merchan shut down the suggestion from the Trump Organization’s legal team that the case was a politically motivated prosecution against the former president and told attorneys to focus on the specific charges, CBS News reported.
“I will not allow you in any way to bring up a selective prosecution claim, or claim this is some sort of novel prosecution,” Merchan said.
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