A right-wing media personality complained on Sunday that Justice Juan Merchan was biased against Donald Trump, but was met with some intense backlash.
Conservative media personality Erick Erickson, the founder of Red State, took to social media over the weekend to a make a case that Merchan was more biased than Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who said his wife flew an upside down flag in response to a Trump-related neighborhood dispute.
Merchan oversaw the New York criminal hush money cover-up case, where Trump was recently found guilty by a jury of his peers on 34 felony counts of business records fraud.
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"It is a fact that Judge Merchan gave money to Democrats earmarked to 'stop Trump' and did not recuse himself from Trump’s trial," Erickson wrote. He then added, "People who think an upside down flag is an appearance of impropriety do not care."
Former Lincoln Project veterans affairs adviser Fred Wellman, an ex-Republican and current Democratic campaign consultant, responded with the amount Merchan reportedly gave.
"$35. It was $35," Wellman said. "Give us a break with this b-------."
Legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold also chimed in:
"1. It was $30. 2. Judge shopping for GOP judge in 85% Dem Manhattan just as wrong. 3. A judge who didn't give $30 could be more biased. 4. Merchan got ok from judicial ethics board. 5. He was overly fair to Trump. 6. A jury decided to convict Trump, who put up almost no defense."
James Surowiecki, an American journalist, said the "problem with this argument is that Aileen Cannon literally owes her job as a federal judge to Donald Trump, which is a massively greater conflict of interest than Merchan's, but no Trump supporters argued that she should recuse itself."
"It's honestly silly that we're pretending a judge who was literally appointed by Trump can impartially preside over a criminal case in which he's a defendant, but there it is," he added. "Next to that, Merchan's conflict of interest is trivial at worst."
The journalist then concluded:
"I think Cannon and Merchan should both have recused themselves, but Cannon's failure to recuse herself seems more egregious, particularly given how she has ruled in the case so far."
Cannon issued a ruling on Sunday that was seen by one legal analyst as evidence the judge isn't concerned about law enforcement safety.