This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The U.S. House of Representatives has begun an investigation into the Democrat-aligned daughter of a judge who heard one of the lawfare cases that party has assembled against President Donald Trump.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the head of the House Judiciary Committee, has launched the review of Loren Merchan, the daughter of Juan Merchan, who heard prosecutor Alvin Bragg's business records case against Trump.
A jury in the leftist enclave of Manhattan found against Trump on 34 counts after Merchan, the judge, repeatedly ruled against Trump, allowed salacious and irrelevant testimony in the case, and refused to allow a true expert on the topic to provide evidence.
Fox News explains Jordan has sent a letter to Loren Merchan, the Democrat party activist, supporter, and fundraiser, asking for documents about her financial interests that could have been affected by her father's rulings in the case.
Trump's lawyers had urged Merchan, the judge, to recuse himself from the case because of the obvious conflict of interest raised by his daughter's political and financial dealings involving the company Authentic Campaigns.
Trump's lawyers pointed out the company worked only with Democrats.
The fact is, they argued, Loren Merchan "has a direct financial interest in these proceedings by virtue of her ownership stake and leadership role at Authentic Campaigns, Inc."
Her company's clients included Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the former, and now current, opponent to Trump in the 2024 election.
Jordan pointed out, to Loren Merchan, "During your time working on behalf of Vice President Harris, Authentic Campaigns received over $7 million in compensation for its services. According to your now-deleted LinkedIn, after Vice President Harris dropped out of the Democrat primary, you were promoted to President of Authentic Campaigns."
The letter continued, "Authentic Campaigns then conducted work for the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign, which included 'digital paid media, design and development, social media, mobile messaging, [and] artificial intelligence.'"
Based on the funds collected by the firm through its work with top Democrats – also including Rep. Adam Schiff and the Senate Majority PAC – Jordan charged that at a minimum, "there is a perception that you and Authentic Campaigns could profit considerably from President Trump's prosecution in a forum overseen by your father."
Jordan is seeking "all contracts and invoices referring or relating to work performed by Authentic Campaigns" over its advocacy for the Biden and Harris campaigns and the Democratic National Committee from the period of Jan. 1, 2023 to the present.
Specifically, he wants access to any of Authentic Campaigns' "communications" that reference the case against Trump, including any "communications with her father … related to the indictment, prosecution or conviction of Trump."
WND previously reported the case involved bookkeeping issues within Trump's companies.
They would have been misdemeanors if they had been pursued then they happened, but the statute of limitations had expired. Bragg, however, demanded that they be treated as "felonies' because they allegedly were in pursuit of another crime, which he didn't specify.
It's one of multiple lawfare cases brought by Democrats in an apparent scheme to derail Trump's 2024 presidential race.
The behavior of Merchan, the judge, was cited at the time by legal expert and longtime commentator Alan Dershowitz after Merchan openly feuded with a witness, ordered the courtroom cleared, and essentially blew his stack during the proceedings.
A report at Fox News said Dershowitz, a Harvard Law professor emeritus, "called out" Merchan for "outrageous" rulings against Trump.
He told "The Brian Kilmeade Show" that Merchan was a "tyrant" for threatening to strike the testimony of defense witness Bob Costello, who expressed disbelief at some of Merchan's anti-Trump rulings.
Dershowitz charged, "I've been in courthouses in every part of the world and in China, in Russia, in Ukraine, in Israel. I've been all over. I've never seen a spectacle like this. And that's why it should have been on television, so the American public could see how outrageous this judge is. And CNN just does his bidding. CNN lies, lies through their teeth about what happened in court yesterday between Judge Merchan and Bob Costello. Bob Costello testifies, Merchan rules against him at every point, keeps out his testimony, makes outrageous rulings that any first-year student taking evidence would know was wrong."
He continued, "And Bob Costello does what I did: He rolled his eyes. And I rolled my eyes, I said, I couldn't believe the judge was making these rulings. And the judge, thinking he's a tyrant, clears the courtroom, throws out everybody from the media. For some reason, they allowed me to stay, and I watched as the judge berated him. And the judge said something I have never seen in a courtroom in my history, 60 years. He threatened to strike the testimony of the main witness for the defendant because of punishment of the witness for staring at the judge. Can you imagine the violation of the Sixth Amendment? The Sixth Amendment allows any defendant to confront witnesses and to present evidence in his defense. Can you imagine if this judge had actually struck the testimony of Bob Costello? It would result in an automatic mistrial, new trial, and a verdict against the prosecution. The judge was bluffing. He ought to be disciplined for making that threat because the threat was an idle threat. He obviously didn't act on it. …"
Dershowitz pointed out that American law doesn't allow a judge to just throw out a witness's testimony to punish a defendant.
"And we didn't see it because television is not allowed in the courtroom. … They just won't allow the American public to watch this trial, and I don't blame them. If I were the judge, I would never want this trial to be on television because he's behaved so outrageously," he said.
A report at the Daily Mail described Merchan's outburst as "unhinged."
In a column there, Dershowitz described, "The stench of deceit hung in the air as I sat in the front row of a Manhattan courtroom. Seated on the witness stand, no more than a few feet from me, I watched in disbelief as Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen told the jury one seeming lie after another."
