House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is ramping up scrutiny of a Democratic campaign firm tied to the daughter of the judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial in Manhattan earlier this year.
Jordan sent a subpoena on Wednesday to Authentic Campaigns, a digital marketing and political consulting firm that employs Loren Merchan, the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, and counts Democratic lawmakers among its many clients.
“Of relevance to the Committee’s oversight is the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding trial judge, due to his refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases,” Jordan wrote in a subpoena cover letter.
Authentic Campaigns gave differing responses to the Judiciary Committee’s records requests before Jordan issued the subpoena to continue investigating whether Judge Merchan had any conflicts of interest because of his daughter’s work. The conflicting statements prompted Jordan to request a sworn affidavit that Authentic Campaigns conducted a comprehensive search for any documents within the scope of the subpoena.
“If Authentic Campaigns indeed has no responsive records for the other requests made by the Committee on August 1, as you have asserted, the Committee requests a sworn certification under the penalty of perjury,” Jordan added.
Authentic Campaigns president Mike Nellis, a former senior advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, responded Wednesday with a post denouncing Jordan’s investigation.
“This is yet another abuse of power, aimed at promoting a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory that links our company, Authentic, to Donald Trump’s fraud trial. We are thoroughly reviewing the subpoena with our legal team and will provide updates as soon as we have more information,” Nellis said on X. “This is a blatant attempt to intimidate us and divert attention from Donald Trump’s conviction.”
Loren Merchan worked for Harris’s failed 2020 presidential campaign during her time with Authentic Campaigns, and her father previously donated to the Biden-Harris presidential campaign.
Trump’s attorneys have unsuccessfully tried getting Merchan to recuse himself from the former president’s criminal case. The partisan affiliations of Merchan and his daughter have been the subject of intense criticism from Trump and his allies for what they see as political and ethical issues.
Merchan is set to decide on Trump’s sentencing next month. He previously pushed back the sentencing date after the Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump’s attorneys and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg have asked Merchan to delay Trump’s sentencing again, potentially allowing the Republican presidential nominee to avoid receiving a prison sentence until after the 2024 election.
Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements he paid to then-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen for his $130,000 payment to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Daniels alleges that she and Trump had an extramarital affair in 2006, a claim Trump denies.