Trump Motion to Recuse Judge in Hush Money Case Weakened

As former President Donald Trump heads to federal court in Miami Tuesday on Espionage Act charges, his effort to obtain a new judge to hear charges that he falsified business records in New York has taken a hit.

Trump had called for Judge Juan Manuel Merchan of the New York State Supreme Court to recuse himself from the case in a motion filed May 31, asserting he made political contributions to Democratic causes totaling $35 in 2020, including $15 to President Joe Biden.

Trump asserted that Merchan’s contributions and his daughter’s work for Democratic candidates show he can’t be impartial.

The former president’s argument, however, is undercut by a recent opinion of the New York Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which states that a judge need not recuse himself for “modest political contributions made more than two years ago.”

In addition, the committee said, “A relative’s independent political activities do not provide a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality.”

“On the facts before us, we conclude the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned based on the judge’s relative’s business and/or political activities, and the judge is not ethically required to disclose them,” the opinion said.

Prosecutors in the New York criminal case allege Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 in hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump and then falsified records when he reimbursed his attorney for the payment.

The indictment charges Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The indictment alleges Trump “falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”

The advisory committee opinion, dated May 4, was released on Saturday, according to a report by Reuters.