The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee on Thursday launched an investigation into the daughter of Manhattan judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw former president Donald Trump’s hush-money trial and conviction, over her past work for Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats.
Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), in his official capacity as committee chairman, demanded that Loren Merchan hand over records of her work since 2023 for a Democrat-affiliated marketing firm whose clients include Harris, President Joe Biden, and the Democratic National Committee.
Before the criminal trial started, Trump’s lawyers asked Judge Merchan to recuse himself from the case due to his daughter’s work for Authentic Campaigns. The judge refused to do so even though the Chicago-based political consulting firm, which his daughter leads, had a vested interest in the outcome of the court proceedings against Trump, who was ultimately convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.
“Experts have raised substantial concerns with Judge Merchan, your father, refusing to recuse himself from President Trump’s case despite your work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the financial benefit that your firm, Authentic Campaigns Inc., could receive from the prosecution and conviction,” Jordan wrote in a four-page letter.
Loren Merchan worked for Harris’s presidential campaign in 2019 while serving as vice president at Authentic Campaigns, where she would later become president.
“During your time working on behalf of Vice President Harris, Authentic Campaigns received over $7 million in compensation for its services,” the Republican congressman wrote. “According to your now-deleted LinkedIn, after Vice President Harris dropped out of the Democrat primary, you were promoted to President of Authentic Campaigns.”
Jordan continued detailing how Authentic Campaigns did work for the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign, which paid the firm over $2 million in one month for its digital-media services.
He also noted how two of its top clients — Representative Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) and the Senate Majority PAC — raised at least $93 million in campaign donations while referencing Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump in their solicitation emails, the New York Post reported in March.
“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 wrote.
Trump’s attorneys meanwhile revived their bid for the presiding judge’s recusal from the case in a pre-motion letter on Wednesday, citing the daughter’s work with Harris, who is now running against Trump as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“Your Honor’s daughter has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote. “She has obtained — and stands to obtain in the future — extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris.”
The congressional correspondence asks Loren Merchan to hand over documents and communications that Authentic Campaigns made concerning Trump’s hush-money case in addition to contracts and invoices relating to her firm’s work for Harris and other Democrats. She must send the listed documents by August 8.
“Accordingly, as the Committee continues its oversight,” the letter states, “we believe you possess records that will inform legislative reforms to address the weaponization of judicial system.”