New Rep. Stef slap at judge
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) filed another ethics complaint against Judge Juan Merchan on Friday, accusing the acting Manhattan Supreme Court justice of a conflict of interest due to his daughter’s recent work for the Kamala Harris campaign.
Stefanik (below) asked the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct to launch “a fresh inquiry” into a $468 payment from the Harris camp to Loren Merchan’s digital political consulting and marketing firm, Authentic Campaigns.
The transaction took place July 30, days after the suspension of President Biden’s re-election effort and was “one of the very first things that Harris did upon taking over the Biden campaign infrastructure,” Stefanik said in the letter, which was first reported by NBC News.
The Biden campaign had not em“Ms. ployed Authentic Campaigns, which assists Democratic candidates, “for web hosting services,” opting to use Amazon Web Services instead.
“This is merely the beginning of a new contract with a new campaign, regardless of the amount reimbursed,” Stefanik noted. “Sure, there’s an immediate benefit, but this is a play at a potential larger benefit for Authentic and Merchan down the road.”
As a result, the House Republican conference chairwoman argued the judge — who had been set to sentence former President Donald Trump in his “hush money” case on Sept. 18 — must recuse himself from the case. Merchan is related to Justice Merchan in the first degree,” Stefanik said.
Within hours of Stefanik’s complaint being submitted, however, Merchan postponed Trump’s sentencing in the criminal case until Nov. 26 — exactly three weeks after the election.