Former U.S. President Donald Trump is set to make history as he faces criminal charges in Justice Juan Merchan’s courtroom, a first for a former president. While this may be new territory for Trump, Merchan is a veteran judge serving on Manhattan’s criminal court, with previous experience presiding over high-profile cases involving people close to Trump.
Last year, Merchan oversaw the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, which resulted in the company being convicted by a jury of tax fraud and being hit with fines. Additionally, Allen Weisselberg, one of the company’s longtime executives, pleaded guilty and was sent to jail. Merchan also sentenced the Trump Organization to pay $1.6 million and Weisselberg to five months of incarceration. Trump, who was not charged in the case, took to his Truth Social platform on Friday to lash out at Merchan, accusing him of treating his companies “viciously.”
Now, Merchan will preside over Trump’s arraignment following a grand jury investigation into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. While the grand jury has indicted Trump, the specific charges have not been publicly disclosed. Trump’s attorney, Susan Necheles, has said that the former president will plead not guilty.
Merchan’s recent encounters with people close to Trump don’t end with the Trump Organization trial. He is also presiding over a criminal case involving former Trump campaign and White House adviser Steve Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and fraud related to a nonprofit that raised funds for building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
Merchan has been a Manhattan criminal court judge since 2009, with prior experience on the state’s Court of Claims and family court in the Bronx. He was born in Colombia and moved to the United States at age 6, growing up in New York City’s borough of Queens. Merchan graduated from Baruch College and Hofstra University School of Law and began his legal career in the same District Attorney’s office that is now prosecuting Trump.
Merchan has presided over several high-profile cases, including the 2012 case of the “Soccer Mom Madam” Anna Gristina, who was accused of running a high-end brothel out of her Manhattan apartment. Gristina eventually pleaded guilty, and in 2021, she sued Merchan in an attempt to unseal records in her case as part of an effort to vacate her record. However, her case was dismissed, according to court records.
In 2011, Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York recommended that President Barack Obama nominate Merchan for a federal judgeship in Brooklyn, stating that he would have been the first Colombian-born federal judge. However, Merchan was not nominated for the post.
As Trump’s arraignment approaches, all eyes will be on Merchan and how he handles this historic case.
Yeah he will get a fair trial with this liberal jackass
LIBERAL IS RIGHT….AND THAT DONKEY WAS BORN IN BOGATA…AT 6 YEARS OF AGE HE MOVED & LIVED IN QUEENS…
WONDER IF HE EVER BECAME A LEGAL CITIZEN, AS HIS PARENTS WERE NOT BORN IN THE UNITED STATES……MAYBE JUST ANOTHER NY ILLEGAL DEM/RINO…
WONDER IF HIS PARENTS EVER BROUGHT ANY OF THAT STUFF HOME FROM THE OPIUM FIELDS WHERE THEY WORKED….BETCHA JUAN WAS A “HIGH FLYING” KID…..
Let trump testifying and the jurors can decide if he is guilty. If he has nothing to hide he should welcome the chance to testifying .