House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan subpoenaed a company connected to the daughter of New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan as Republicans continue to claim that her political work influenced how Merchan handled the hush money case against former President Donald Trump.
Republicans have targeted the political work of Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, who has served as president of Authentic Campaigns, a firm that does digital campaign work like online fundraising, mobile messaging and web design. They work with Democratic political candidates, including some of Trump’s most outspoken opponents.
A bio for Loren Merchan on the company website states that she has has managed paid media campaigns for “candidates like Senators Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Beto O’Rourke.”
The subpoena, obtained by CNN, was sent to the CEO of Authentic Campaigns, Michael Nellis, and demanded all documents relating to the company’s connections with the Biden-Harris campaign, any correspondence with Judge Merchan, and any document that refers to the indictment of Trump.
In the subpoena, which came after requests to turn over the documents voluntarily, Jordan argued that Judge Merchan’s “impartiality” over Trump’s case was in question because of his daughter’s work, and claimed that the documents demanded in the subpoena would determine whether the prosecution of Trump was politically motivated.
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records following a seven-week trial presided over by Judge Merchan.
When Trump previously invoked Merchan’s daughter while trying to disqualify the judge from the case, Merchan solicited a recommendation from the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics. They concluded that “the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned based on the judge’s relative’s business and/or political activities.”
Nellis called the subpoena “yet another abuse of power, aimed at promoting a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory” in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday.
“Let us be clear: these allegations against our company are completely false and purely politically motivated,” Nellis added.
The subpoena sets the document deadline for September 13.
