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Now that Republicans don’t care about Hunter Biden anymore, they have plenty of time on their hands to go after the family member of another perceived foe.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has found a new victim to use his congressional powers on: the daughter of Juan Merchan, the justice who presided over the trial that made Donald Trump a convicted felon.
In this latest attempt to establish some sort of guilt by association (without ever presenting any evidence that actual wrongdoing has taken place), Jordan is now targeting Loren Merchan, the president of the progressive marketing firm Authentic Campaigns, Inc.
What does the lawmaker seem to think she is “guilty” of (apart from having a dad)? Apparently, doing a good job.
This election cycle, the firm has been paid more than $26 million for its work. Almost half of that money came from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who is running for Senate. In the 2020 cycle, it was paid $7.5 million by now-Vice President Kamala Harris’s unsuccessful presidential campaign.
What Jordan is trying to do is to establish some sort of link between Authentic Campaign’s success and her dad’s refusal to recuse himself from the case.
That’s similar to the mental gymnastics that turned “Hunter Biden receiving money” into his father running the “Biden crime family.”
If you listen to Republicans, it sounded like it was a thing, but when you looked at the evidence, you realized it was just a smear campaign.
That certainly appears to be the case here.
“Experts have raised substantial concerns with Judge Merchan, your father, refusing to recuse himself from President Trump’s case despite your work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the financial benefit that your firm, Authentic Campaigns Inc., could receive from the prosecution and conviction,” Jordan wrote in a letter sent to Loren Merchan last week.
That’s meant to sound bad; but is it?
First of all, the New York Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics has already issued a ruling on the question of whether Judge Merchan’s $35 donation to Democrats/progressive causes, or his daughter’s job, would affect his performance in the case. Back in June of 2023, the panel stated that the judge’s impartiality cannot “reasonably be questioned.”
Also, it seems as though any progressive marketing/consulting firm would mention the fact that Trump has been indicted on four different occasions for multiple crimes. In fact, they would not be doing their job if they failed to point out that the person at the top of the opposing ticket is a felon.
Still, that doesn’t stop Jordan from making a sweeping request for information.
Specifically, he is asking Loren Merchan to provide his committee with what could be a slew of documents.
These include all contracts and invoices referring or relating to work the firm performed for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, Harris’s presidential campaign, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for the past 20 months.
It doesn’t stop there.
Jordan also wants “all documents and communications between or among Authentic Campaigns or any of its employees, agents, or representatives, the Biden for President campaign, or the Harris for President campaign referring or relating to the indictment, prosecution, or conviction of President Donald J. Trump for the period April 1, 2023, to the present.”
Next, he demands to see any of the firm’s documents and communications that “that refers to the indictment, prosecution, or conviction of President Donald J. Trump for the period April 1, 2023, to the present.”
Finally, Jordan wants Loren Merchan to provide “all documents and communications between or among Authentic Campaigns or any of its employees, agents, or representatives and Judge Juan Merchan or any of his employees or representatives referring or relating to the indictment, prosecution, or conviction of President Donald J. Trump for the period April 1, 2023, to the present.”
This kind of “investigation” is what’s commonly referred to as a fishing operation.
Essentially, Jordan is looking for anything that he can use to somehow assert that Judge Merchan was not impartial.
But that’s not enough. The scope of the request is so broad that fully responding to it will take a lot of time (that Authentic Campaign cannot spend on behalf of its clients).
However, Jordan wants to see these documents by tomorrow, therefore giving the firm a mere week to determine which of these documents exist and then vetting them.
Of course, in the end, it won’t matter what is or isn’t provided because the result will be the same: The lawmaker will make some flimsy accusations of impropriety that deflect from the fact that Trump was unanimously convicted by a jury of his peers.
Oh, by the way, if Jordan is really worried about the political work of the relatives of judges, just wait until he hears about Clarence and Ginni Thomas…
