Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has revealed what she claims is a significant connection between Vice President Kamala Harris and Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Merchan, previously a target of conservative criticism, is now alleged by Luna to have permitted Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY) to prepare Michael Cohen as a witness. Goldman, a vocal defender of President Joe Biden, has Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, a well-known Democratic operative, as a political consultant for his campaign. Additionally, Loren Merchan works for the same consulting firm that managed fundraising for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Interestingly enough, when Cohen started to be asked whether or not he thought that New York had a corrupt judicial system, he actually had his own quotes used against him. And Judge Merchan was actually sitting there uncomfortably, moving in his seat. Jesse, we found out just today — just to put it in perspective about how swampy, how stacked against the odds, how corrupt this entire Biden trial is, because that’s really what it is,” Luna told Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Thursday.
“We found out that Representative [Dan] Goldman, who actually sits with me on House Oversight as a Democrat, not only prepared [Michael] Cohen for the testimony today, but he’s also a client of the judge’s daughter at the same firm that fundraises for Kamala Harris. So when I say this is incestual, and when I say that we are exposing them for everything that they are, which is a complete sham, I mean it,” she added.
“And although the president may not be able to speak on behalf of this trial, I can. What I can tell the American people is that the president is in fighting spirits, he knows that he’s going to win. The jurors sat there and shook their heads every single time — all four times that Cohen admitted that he lied to members of Congress. So to put it in perspective I think that their trial is falling apart, again,” Luna stated in remarks reported by the Daily Caller.
Luna traveled to Manhattan to show her support for President Trump, joining a group of other Republicans, including Florida colleague Matt Gaetz (R-FL), to emphasize to the media their belief that the trial is politically motivated. Before Thursday’s hearing, Trump sharply criticized Loren Merchan’s connections to Authentic Campaigns, which consulted for other prominent Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). Schiff is alleged to have raised over $90 million for his U.S. Senate campaign by fundraising off of the trial.
It is unclear whether Loren Merchan is still working with the firm. Her LinkedIn profile, which identified her as the digital fundraising director for Vice President Harris during the 2020 campaign, has been made private following conservative outcry about her connection to the trial. In August, Judge Merchan confirmed his daughter’s association with the firm and has since extended a gag order on Trump, instructing him to refrain from attacking his daughter and other family members connected to court officers.
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