(TheIndependentStar.com) – In response to the unashamed legal witch hunt against the GOP presidential candidate, the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to the company that employs the daughter of New York judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
This move intensifies the conflict between the panel’s Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government and the company Authentic Campaigns. Authentic Campaigns previously refused lawmakers’ requests to provide any communications with Merchan, pointing out that none exist.
Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to CEO Mike Nellis, requesting that he participate in a deposition and sign a sworn affidavit confirming that the company never communicated with Merchan.
Nellis had earlier dismissed the idea as absurd, arguing that his company would not interact with an employee’s parent and emphasizing that Authentic Campaigns does not work for the campaigns of Biden or Harris. He also noted that their political work has no connection to the outcome of Trump’s trial.
Despite this, Jordan insisted on a sworn affidavit, asking the company to search its records for any communications related to Trump’s prosecution.
Moreover, Nellis shared the subpoena online and called it an attempt to intimidate the company.
“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,” Nellis wrote on X.
Loren Merchan, the judge’s daughter, has frequently been targeted by Trump due to her work on campaigns for top Democrats, including Harris and Biden. Her involvement has been cited in attempts to have her father recuse himself from Trump’s New York case.
Judge Merchan has denied three recusal requests from Trump, most recently after Trump’s legal team argued that Loren Merchan’s work for Harris presented a new reason for him to step aside.
The judge has maintained that his daughter’s work poses no conflict and said he consulted the state’s judicial ethics advisory committee before reaching that decision.
In addition, Trump is prohibited from making public comments about Judge Merchan’s family or prosecutors in the New York case, though he is allowed to comment on the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).
In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, made to a porn actor to keep her silent before the 2016 election about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump denies the affair and any wrongdoing related to the payment.
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