| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 6th, 2024
SARATOGA, NY— Today, Elise Stefanik filed an ethics complaint with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct with new evidence against Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan for his illegal conflict of interest in the sham Manhattan trial against President Trump. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik has filed multiple complaints to hold radical Leftist judges and prosecutors accountable for their blatant corruption in weaponizing their positions against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ leading political opponent, President Donald J. Trump. Read NBC News’ exclusive coverage here. Background on Chairwoman Stefanik’s leadership fighting back against Biden and the Democrats’ illegal lawfare against President Trump: In November of 2023, Chairwoman Elise Stefanik and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner led a criminal referral demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately launch a criminal investigation into Michael Cohen for knowingly making false statements under oath during a deposition in front of Congress in February of 2019. In May of 2024, Chairwoman Stefanik co-led a letter with Chairman Mike Turner following up on the previously filed criminal referral of Michael Cohen. Chairwoman Stefanik filed a complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron for his inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance in New York’s disgraceful lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization in early November of 2023. In January of 2024, Chairwoman Stefanik submitted an additional supplement to her original complaint against Judge Engoron. In early December 2023, Chairwoman Stefanik filed a complaint of Judicial Misconduct against Judge Beryl Howell for her highly inappropriate speech where she insinuated the election of President Trump will lead to fascism in America. Judge Howell also inappropriately allowed a public display of her cozy personal relationships with her partisan friends including the Biden Deputy Attorney General who supervises the January 6 criminal prosecutions. In February 2024, Chairwoman Stefanik issued a 64-page complaint to the New York Committee on Professional Standards demanding the disbarment of New York Attorney General Letitia James for violating “principles of fairness and impartiality” by engaging in “relentless lawfare” and constant prejudicial statements on social media against former President Donald Trump. In April 2024, Chairwoman Stefanik filed an official ethics complaint against Jack Smith with the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility for breaking Department of Justice policy and illegally interfering with the 2024 election. In May 2024, Elise Stefanik filed an ethics complaint with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct against Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan for his clear violation of the Rules of Judicial Conduct for the New York State Unified Court System due to his family directly enriching itself off this sham trial against President Trump. See the full complaint filed below and linked here. Elise Stefanik Post Office Box 500 Glens Falls, New York 12801 (518) 336-5232 September 6, 2024 New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct 61 Broadway, Suite 1200 New York, New York 10006 Members of the Commission: I am writing to you concerning potential ethical issues with respect to Acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. On May 21, 2024, I filed a complaint against Justice Merchan concerning his presiding over the pending criminal case of former President Donald J. Trump. The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct (the Commission) rejected the complaint on July 3, 2024. As of today, President Trump is scheduled for sentencing on September 18, 2024, at which he faces up to 136 years’ imprisonment. New information has come to light that merits a fresh look into Justice Merchan’s conflict. Neither the Appellate Division nor the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics could have known about this material when they issued opinions as to Justice Merchan’s continuing to preside over President Trump’s case. On July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek a second term. Within a few days, Vice President Kamala Harris was anointed to become the Democrat Party’s nominee for the presidency. During his campaign, President Biden used one company, Amazon Web Services (AWS), for the campaign’s web hosting services.1 President Biden’s campaign paid AWS throughout 2023 through the suspension of his campaign in July 2024. On August 20, 2024, Vice President Harris’s campaign submitted its first Federal Election Commission (FEC) report that documented expenses and donations through July 31, 2024. In the report, specifically on Form 3P, line 232, a July 30, 2024, disbursement appears in the amount of $468.00 from Vice President Harris’s campaign to Authentic Campaigns Inc. (Authentic) for web hosting services. This indicates that one of the very first things that Harris did upon taking over the Biden campaign infrastructure is to hire this firm, Authentic. Authentic is a digital consulting and marketing firm that services Democrat candidates. Loren Merchan, Justice Merchan’s daughter, is its president. Vice President Harris changed web hosting companies from AWS to Authentic immediately after becoming the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee. As the FEC report’s filing did not occur until August 20, nearly a month after the Harris campaign and Authentic had begun doing business, no one in the public, including the Commission, could have known of the relationship. This is merely the beginning of a new contract with a new campaign, regardless of the amount reimbursed. Sure, there’s an immediate benefit, but this is a play at a potential larger benefit for Authentic and Merchan down the road. The Code of Conduct, specifically § 100.3(E)(1)(d)(iii), dictates that a judge must recuse from a case where a relative up to and including the sixth degree has a financial interest in the outcome of the case. Ms. Merchan is related to Justice Merchan in the first degree. Authentic has a newly active financial relationship with Vice President Harris’s campaign. President Trump’s sentencing, an event which will garner worldwide media coverage, is imminent. This event, a month and a half prior to the November 5 election, could have a profound impact on that election; indeed, some states will have commenced mail voting by that date. Given this revelation of a brand-new conflict of interest for Judge Merchan, I respectfully request that the Commission engage in a fresh inquiry concerning Justice Merchan’s conflict and take any appropriate action resulting from it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, |
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Elise M. Stefanik
___________ 1 Federal Election Commission, Disbursement Search, Harris for President, https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/data_type=processed&committee_id=C00703975&two_year_transaction_period=2024&min_date=01%2F01%2F2023&max_date=12%2F31%2F2024&disbursement_description=Web (last visited 9/6/2024) 2 Federal Election Commission, Itemized Disbursement Report, Harris for President, https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202408209675189812 (last visited 9/6/2024) |
