RUTHFULLY YOURS

From the second it was filed, it was clear that Alvin Bragg’s indictment against Donald Trump for the payments he made to Stormy Daniels was a due process disaster. The complaint alleges legal conduct and then concludes that this legal conduct constituted illegal action of an undisclosed nature. The case should have been tossed instantly. But now that we know that the judge trying the case has deep Democrat ties and is trying to prevent Trump from exposing those ties, it’s becoming clear why it’s proceeding to trial.

Last year, John Hinderaker, who is no Trump fan, eviscerated Bragg’s indictment:

You can read Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Donald Trump and a supporting statement of facts here. The indictment is what we expected. It all has to do with paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels for a non-disclosure agreement, which was legal. The payment was made by “Lawyer A,” Michael Cohen. Trump reimbursed Cohen using Trump’s own money, which was legal. The “34 counts” arise out of the fact that by agreement, Cohen got reimbursed by sending monthly invoices to Trump or his revocable trust. So for each monthly bill from Cohen, we get three counts of falsifying documents: one for the invoice, one for the ledger entry, and one for the check stub. Pathetic.

The indictment alleges that all of this was done “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof,” but it never says what that other crime was. The second crime is mandatory because without it, falsifying a business record under New York law is a misdemeanor on which the statute of limitation has run. Presumably the second crime is alleged to be a campaign finance violation. But the payment to Daniels did not violate the campaign finance laws.

What this all boils down to is that, despite 34 counts against him, Trump has no idea what crime he is alleged to have committed. This is the most fundamental denial of due process there is. Under the Sixth Amendment, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall…be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation…” Bragg bypassed that constitutional requirement completely. The judge should have tossed the case instantly for that due process failure.

However, Juan Merchan, the judge assigned to the case, chose not to do so. Given the blatant, fundamental problems with the indictment, it was reasonable to question Merchan’s motives. Conservatives did and they discovered a couple of things. First, Merchan is a dedicated Democrat who, in 2020, donated to Democrat causes, including Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

Second, Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has an interesting job. It turns out that she’s one of the Democrat party’s major fundraisers (almost $100 million and counting) and that she’s been using the case over which her father presided to help raise those funds. She also worked closely with Adam Schiff. As Julie Kelly explains,

Her ties to Schiff are especially troubling given Schiff’s role in refurbishing the reputation of one of Bragg’s star witnesses: disbarred lawyer and convicted perjurer Michael Cohen.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Schiff’s campaign committee paid Authentic Campaigns more than $3.7 million for digital media acquisitions between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. In addition to the media buys, Schiff paid Authentic Campaigns $215,000 for “digital consulting fees.”

 

During the same time period that Merchan’s firm raked in nearly $4 million, Schiff turned Cohen, Trump’s lawyer who paid Daniels $130,000 allegedly to keep quiet before the 2016 election, against his former client.

In other words, Loren Merchan isn’t a child. She’s playing with the big boys and earning lots of money for doing so. That makes her fair game and her father, for having such an arch-activist daughter, fair game, too. Indeed, at this point, Judge Merchan should recuse himself (that is, withdraw from the case). Under New York’s Code of Judicial Conduct, just the appearance of impropriety—and things look pretty darn improper—violates the code of conduct:

Section 100.2 A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge’s activities.

(A) A judge shall respect and comply with the law and shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

But Judge Merchan plays by leftist rules, which means that the rules don’t apply to him. Rather than recusing himself now that it’s patently clear that his values align with his daughter’s, that his daughter is a major Democrat party player, and that she’s using his case to help raise money, Merchan is trying to silence Trump. Last week, he ordered Trump to stop talking about witnesses in the case. Then, yesterday, he used his judicial authority to order Trump to keep silent about Merchan’s own daughter.

In the Book of Exodus, at chapter 23, verse 7, God mandated that judges must “Keep far from a false charge” and that judges “may not bring death on those who are innocent and in the right…” In other words, a moral society requires moral judges. On the known facts, Judge Mechan has failed the Exodus test.