NYC hush money judge refuses to step down, slams Trump’s third push

The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush-money trial refused to step down from the case in court filings made public Wednesday

State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan categorically rejected claims he’s biased due to his daughter’s job as a political consultant, calling the argument from Trump’s team “rife with inaccuracies” and repetitive of the GOP presidential candidate’s failed legal arguments.

“[This] court now reiterates for the third time, that which should already be clear — innuendo and mischaracterizations do not a conflict create. Recusal is therefore not necessary, much less required,” state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan 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. Defendant has provided nothing new for this court to consider.”

The decision marks Merchan’s third time rejecting an effort from Trump to get him to step down based on the judge’s daughter’s work. In April, he called the allegations “at best strained and at worst baseless” and last year cited a state judicial ethics committee determination that his impartiality couldn’t “reasonably be questioned.”

In their motion filed last month, Trump’s lawyers had argued that Vice President Harris taking President Biden’s place in this year’s White House contest presented new “concrete” reasons for his recusal, citing the daughter’s work on Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign.

“Raising no new facts or law, the Defendant again premised his motion for recusal on the unsubstantiated claims that a family member of this Court stood to gain financially from this Court’s rulings,” Merchan wrote in the new decision, noting there was no need for him to repeat the legal analysis contained in his prior rulings.

“Stated plainly, Defendant’s arguments are nothing more than a repetition of stale and unsubstantiated claims.”

Trump last week asked New York’s highest court to release him from a gag order Merchan imposed before the trial. A midlevel appellate court upheld the order last month, keeping it in place until his sentencing.

The parts of the order still in effect bar Trump from publicly attacking Merchan’s daughter, other relatives, and the staff and family members of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Merchan expanded it to include Merchan’s relatives when Trump went after Merchan’s daughter on Truth Social, disseminating false claims that she’d been criticizing him online.