House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan issued a subpoena to the company that employs the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan — who oversees former President Donald Trump’s business record case.
Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, is an employee of Authentic Campaigns, which does political work and raises funds for Democratic politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, sent a letter Wednesday to Michael Nellis, the CEO of Authentic Campaigns, asking for information about possible communications between the company and Judge Merchan. The congressman also wants Mr. Nellis to sit for a deposition and for a sworn affidavit that the company looked for any communications regarding Mr. Trump’s New York trial.
“If Authentic Campaigns indeed has no responsive records for the other requests made by the committee on Aug. 1, as you have asserted, the committee requests a sworn certification under the penalty of perjury that Authentic Campaigns made a reasonable, diligent and good faith search for responsive documents and was unable to locate any responsive documents,” Mr. Jordan wrote.
Mr. Nellis bashed the request online and shared the subpoena.
“We have just received a subpoena from Jim Jordan and the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee. This is yet another abuse of power, aimed at promoting a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory that links our company, Authentic, to Donald Trump’s fraud trial,” he wrote on X Wednesday. “We are thoroughly reviewing the subpoena with our legal team and will provide updates as soon as we have more information.”
He added, “Let us be clear: These allegations against our company are completely false and purely politically motivated. This is a blatant attempt to intimidate us and divert attention from Donald Trump’s conviction. We refuse to be bullied, and we will not allow House Republicans or MAGA extremists to spread lies about our work. We remain steadfast in our mission and are deeply grateful for the unwavering support of our friends and family during this time.”
In an X post earlier this month, he called the accusation against the company “absurd and completely false.”
In his letter to Mr. Nellis, Mr. Jordan pointed out that he had written to Loren Merchan at the beginning of this month requesting documents and information that could help with the committee’s probe into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against the former president.
Mr. Jordan wrote that Mr. Nellis himself rejected the request that was made to Ms. Merchan, along with another that was sent a few weeks later.
“As such, the committee is left with no choice but to resort to compulsory process,” Mr. Jordan wrote.
“Popularly elected prosecutors, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, have engaged in an unprecedented abuse of authority by prosecuting a former president of the United States and current nominee for that office,” he said. “Of relevance to the committee’s oversight is the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding trial judge, due to his refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases.”
The congressman wrote that “one such conflict is Ms. Merchan’s — daughter of Judge Merchan and president of Authentic Campaigns — work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the possible financial benefit that Ms. Merchan and Authentic Campaigns received from the prosecution and conviction of President Trump.”
Judge Merchan refused to recuse himself for the third time from the criminal hush money case this month ahead of the Sept. 18 sentencing hearing.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers say the conflict-of-interest issue is more important than ever because Ms. Harris is now the Democratic presidential nominee and Mr. Trump’s opponent.
Judge Merchan rejected the lawyers’ argument, saying an ethics board looked into the matter and felt he was qualified to preside over the case.
“The court now reiterates for the third time, that which should be already clear — innuendo and mischaracterization do not a conflict create. Recusal is therefore not necessary, much less required,” the judge wrote. “As has been the standard throughout the pendency of this case, this court will continue to base its rulings on the evidence and the law, without fear or favor, casting aside undue influence.”
Mr. Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsified business records in connection to porn star Stormy Daniels. Mr. Trump faces up to four years in prison at his sentencing. He maintains he did nothing wrong and never had a sexual encounter with Ms. Daniels.
Mr. Jordan is giving Mr. Nellis until Sept. 13 to comply.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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