A state ethics commission has cautioned the judge supervising Donald Trump’s hush-money campaign financing trial in New York for making two minor payments to Democratic-aligned parties in 2020.
We anticipate that Trump and his lawyers will use the caution as evidence to support their claims that Judge Juan Merchan unfairly decided the New York trial, now in its fourth week, along partisan political lines.
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However, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has not revealed who filed the complaint against Merchan, which arises from a $35 gift to the Democratic group ActBlue, with $15 intended for Biden for President and $10 each for the Progressive Turnout Project and Stop Republicans.
“Justice Merchan said the complaint, which was filed more than a year ago, was dismissed with caution in July,” spokesperson Al Baker of the state office of court administration said in response to Reuters’ query.
The commission believes that the contributions breach the regulations governing forbidden political activity. In its 2024 annual report, the body stated that several dozen judges appeared to have made illicit contributions in recent years, primarily to federal candidates.
Judges are forbidden from making contributions to any campaign, including those for federal office.
“Like so much of the misconduct the commission encounters, making a prohibited political contribution is a self-inflicted mistake,” the commission stated in its findings.
The commission has also received a complaint against Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the former president’s civil business fraud prosecution, which resulted in a $454 million fine earlier this year. The complaint, filed by Trump lawyers, has yet to be resolved.
According to commission guidelines, proceedings are confidential unless there is public censure or the judge makes them public.
Trump has harshly criticized the justices in both cases. During the previous trial, he faced criticism for his accusation that Judge Engoron’s law clerk was the girlfriend of Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. In the latest case, he has focused on Judge Merchan’s daughter, who works as a Democratic political strategist.
In response to a motion for Merchan’s resignation, which the judge declined, a separate advisory council on judicial ethics stated that the gifts did not convey the perception of bias or favoritism.
The reports of the gifts come a day after the New York Times disclosed that the wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito flew an inverted American flag outside the couple’s home following the 2020 election.
According to Alito, his wife made the move when a Democratic neighbor used a highly derogatory slur to describe her to her face.
