Attorneys for President Donald Trump were notified Friday afternoon about a social media post that purported to come from a family member of one of the jurors who convicted him last week in his New York criminal case.
The Facebook post claimed that the outcome of the trial had been decided before the verdict was handed down last week.
It caught the attention of Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial and who is scheduled to sentence Trump in just a few weeks after he was convicted of 34 felony counts of questionable business crimes.
NBC News reported that Merchan flagged the post and sent it not only to Trump’s legal team, but also to prosecutors.
The letter was addressed to Trump attorney Todd Blanche and Manhattan Associate District Attorney Joshua Steinglass.
🚨 BREAKING: Judge Merchan sends letter to parties in NY Trump case notifying them that this comment was left on their Facebook page before the verdict:
“My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted & Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!.” pic.twitter.com/u5SBuNQs6y
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 7, 2024
“Today, the Court became aware of a comment that was posted on the Unified Court System's public Facebook page and which I now bring to your attention,” Merchan wrote.
The judge stated that a Facebook user named Michael Anderson commented, “My cousin is a juror and said Trump is getting convicted."
Anderson concluded, “Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!”
The comment was accompanied by both a party emoji and a heart emoji.
Merchan reported that the comment was posted on May 29 – which was a day before a jury of 12 New Yorkers convicted Trump on May 30.
According to NBC News, the comment that warranted a letter to Trump’s legal team is now deleted, and the network had not independently confirmed its existence.
The news led to quick calls for the conviction to be vacated:
If this is legit, it should wipe out Trump’s conviction.
Judge Juan Merchan has alerted Trump’s attorneys to a Facebook post by a supposed cousin of a Trump juror who spilled the beans that he had inside info that Trump was about to be convicted
"My cousin is a juror and says… pic.twitter.com/Tjj6F4x6XV
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) June 7, 2024
Uh oh! It looks like there was juror misconduct in the #TrumpTrial!
We knew these jurors would not be able to avoid telling their friends and relatives that were going to get Trump
It’s time for a mistrial “with prejudice” and no retrial!
But will Merchan do the right thing? pic.twitter.com/HyfnlUVFlZ
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) June 7, 2024
Wow, a person claiming to be the cousin of a juror posted the day before the conviction on the court’s Facebook page that Trump was getting convicted. If this is confirmed, the case would likely be a mistrial. Quite the Friday news dump! pic.twitter.com/ljMSmENgNx
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 7, 2024
It was not immediately clear whether the person who posted it had really been linked to a juror.
Asked for comment about the disturbing revelation, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign told NBC, “We’re investigating.”
Trump’s legal team had declined to comment on the news as of early Friday evening.
Merchan is scheduled to hand down a sentence on July 11 -- just days before Trump is expected to be nominated as the Republican Party’s 2024 nominee for president in Milwaukee.
