New York Court Rules Judge’s Daughter Had Long Ago Discredited Trump-Cited Account

The New York state court system confirmed that the social media account allegedly belonging to the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Donald Trump’s hush-money case, was deleted by Judge Merchan’s daughter approximately a year ago. This account was the basis for Trump’s demand for the judge’s recusal.

The account on X, formerly Twitter, which featured a profile picture of Trump behind bars, was said to belong to Loren Merchan, Judge Merchan’s daughter. However, the New York state’s Office of Court Administration (OCA) stated that the account has been taken over by an unknown person, giving the impression that it still belonged to Merchan’s daughter.

Trump utilized this account on Wednesday to demand that Judge Merchan recuse himself from the case.

“The X account that was previously on Twitter and attributed to Judge Merchan’s daughter no longer belongs to her as she deleted it around a year ago,” OCA spokesperson Al Baker explained in a statement to The Hill on Thursday.

Baker added, “It is not linked to her email address, and she has not posted under that screenname since deleting the account. Instead, the account was recreated and manipulated by someone else last April.”

Loren Merchan is a president and partner at Authentic, a digital marketing agency. Her profile mentions her groundbreaking work for prominent Democrats like Sen. Jon Tester, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Rep. Adam Schiff.

Trump’s lawyer had previously requested Judge Merchan’s recusal last year due to Merchan’s daughter’s work, which the judge declined. Trump reiterated the demand for recusal upon learning about the fake X account.

Trump made a post on Truth Social accusing the judge’s daughter of bias and conflict of interest, especially when the judge issued a gag order preventing Trump from making certain public statements about his upcoming criminal trial.

Trump is facing multiple charges related to falsifying business records in payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, allegedly to conceal payments to Stormy Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty.