He hates me, says Donald Trump: Who is Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing hush-money case?
He hates me, says Donald Trump: Who is Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing hush-money case?
Donald Trump is known for his hysterics and he brings that to court. On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges during a hearing in New York. He has been accused of making hush-money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. While Trump was released following an hour-long arraignment, a dramatic trial is expected to follow. Trump faces a judge who is aware of his antics – the two have had legal encounters before – and according to the Republican leader “hates him”.
The man deciding Trump’s fate, as he runs for president in 2024, is Justice Juan Manuel Merchan.
Who is Justice Juan Manuel Merchan?
Juan Merchan is an acting New York Supreme Court judge. The veteran judge serving in Manhattan’s criminal court has had a long career at the state-level trial court, but this is, so far, his most high-profile case. That said, it is not the first time he is dealing with a case linked to Trump and his businesses.
Last year, Merchan oversaw a criminal trial of the Trump Organization that ended with the real estate company convicted by a jury of tax fraud and hit with fines, while one of its longtime executives, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty and was sent to jail.
Merchan sentenced the Trump Organization to pay $1.6 million after jurors convicted the company in December. The judge also sentenced Weisselberg, who long served as an executive under Trump but was the prosecution’s star witness in the trial, to five months of incarceration.
In the case of Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Merchan spoke of corporate greed and said that he would have imposed a “stiffer sentence” that the five months he got in jail from a plea deal, according to a report by Politico.
The Trump Organization trial is not the only time Merchan has dealt with those linked to the ex-president. The judge is also presiding over a criminal case involving former Trump campaign and White House adviser Steve Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud related to a nonprofit that raised funds for building a wall on the US border with Mexico.
So when Trump learnt that Merchan was presiding over the hush-money case, he vented on his social media platform Truth Social. “The Judge ‘assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME,” wrote Trump. “He strong armed Allen, which a judge is not allowed to do, & treated my companies, which didn’t ‘plead,’ VICIOUSLY.”
What happened in court?
On Tuesday, Trump appeared before Merchan for the first preceding in the historic case. During the arraignment, Merchan reportedly warned the former president not to engage in rhetoric that could “jeopardise the rule of law”, referring to the incendiary remarks made ahead of the indictment. He urged Trump to “refrain” from “comments that have the potential to incite violence, create civil unrest [or] jeopardise the state or well-being of any individuals,” according to reports in the media.
The judge said that he would not have granted a gag order against Trump had prosecutors requested one before the arraignment, but said he would consider them in the future, if necessary, reports The Washington Post. The gag order would prevent Trump and his team from discussing the case publicly.
During the arraignment, Merchan said that Trump would need to return to New York for the next in-person hearing on December 4.
After Trump turned himself in, he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges against him. He was released shortly after his arrest.
Read all about Donald Trump’s historic indictment
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What did Trump say after?
Trump returned to Florida, where he addressed his supporters saying that the case was an “insult to our country”.
He reiterated that Merchan hated him and accused him of bias in his response speech at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Florida, pointing out how the judge’s daughter worked with Vice President Kamala Harris. “I have a Trump hating-judge with a Trump-hating wife and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign,” Trump said.
The upset politician that he “would never forget” what the judge and prosecutors “had done” to his company’s imprisoned former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. “It’s right out of the old Soviet Union. That’s where we are,” he complained.
Is Merchan biased?
Attorneys, who have appeared before Merchan, claimed that he is a “no-nonsense” judge who does not tolerate delays or disruptions in the courtroom.
“Judge Merchan was efficient, practical, and listened carefully to what I had to say,” Nicholas Gravante, the attorney who represented Weisselberg in his plea, told CNN. “Judge Merchan was always well-prepared, accessible, and – most importantly in the Weisselberg matter – a man of his word. He treated me and my colleagues with the utmost respect, both in open court and behind closed doors.”
Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore said during an interview on CNN that Merchan was “not easy” on him when he tried a case before him but said that the judge was likely will be fair.
“He’s a serious jurist, smart and even-tempered,” Manhattan defence attorney Ron Kuby told NBC News. “He is characterised as a no-nonsense judge. But he’s always in control of the courtroom.”
However, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, who is now a criminal defence lawyer, said that he was surprised Merchan would oversee the case. “I don’t think it’s really a great move on the part of the court system to assign the same judge,” he was quoted as saying by Politico.
What do we know about Merchan’s early career?
Merchan has been a Manhattan criminal court judge since 2009 after prior stints on the state’s Court of Claims, which hears cases against the state and its agencies, and family court in the Bronx, reports Reuters.
Merchan presided over the 2012 case of the so-called “Soccer Mom Madam” Anna Gristina, which garnered lurid headlines in the New York media. Gristina was accused of running a high-end brothel out of her Manhattan apartment and eventually pleaded guilty. Gristina sued Merchan in 2021 to unseal records in her case as part of an effort to vacate her record. Her case was dismissed, according to court records, the report says.
He started his legal career in 1994 as an assistant district attorney in the trial division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Years later, he moved on to the state attorney general’s office, where he worked on cases in Long Island, according to CNN.
The judge was born in Colombia’s Bogota and moved to the US at age six. He grew up in New York City’s borough of Queens and graduated from Baruch College and Hofstra University School of Law.
With inputs from agencies
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