Republicans likely to muddy the waters in Trump hush money case over judge's $35 political donation

Republicans have their new angle in attacking the criminal charges against Donald Trump and the legal process Trump will go through: Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, donated $15 to President Joe Biden in 2020. Merchan also donated $10 to the Progressive Turnout Project and $10 to Stop Republicans, a Progressive Turnout Project subsidiary. It’s not a wholly fresh attack since Trump has already been going after Merchan because his daughter “worked for Kamala Harris.” (Merchan’s daughter’s political consulting firm did work for Harris, among others.) But this $15 certainly renews it. 

The reality is Merchan should not, under judicial ethics guidelines, have made the contributions to Biden or Stop Republicans. But Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics professor at New York University, told CNN the contributions “would be viewed as trivial, especially given the small sums,” and, “Absolutely not. This does not come anywhere near the kind of proof required for recusal.”

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