A new development in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump has the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaing an unusual entity.
That entity is the company that employs the daughter of Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the case, per The Hill.
Authentic Campaigns, which employs Loren Merchan, has rebuked demands to turn over communications between the company and Merchan.
The reason? They don’t exist, the company said.
However, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday sent a letter to CEO Mike Nellis requesting a deposition with the company and sign a sworn affidavit stating the company and Merchan never communicated.
Nellis has called out the absurdness that the company would communicate with a parent of one of its employees.
He also said the firm is not working for the Biden or Harris campaigns and its work would not affect what happens in the hush money trial.
Jordan perservered by askin for a sworn affidavit that the company went through its records for relevant communications dealing with Trump’s prosecution.
“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 that Authentic Campaigns made a reasonable, diligent, and good faith search for responsive documents and was unable to locate any responsive documents,” Jordan wrote in the letter.
Nellis took the matter to X, formerly Twitter, by posting the subpoena and calling it “a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory.”
“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,” Nellis wrote.
“Let us be clear: these allegations against our company are completely false and purely politically motivated. This is a blatant attempt to intimidate us and divert attention from Donald Trump’s conviction. We refuse to be bullied, and we will not allow House Republicans or MAGA extremists to spread lies about our work.”
Merchan’s daughter, Loren, has been a target of Trump’s anger since she has worked on campaigns for top Democrats, including Harris and Biden. As such, Trump’s attorneys have called for Merchan to recuse himself from the case.
Juan Merchan has said daughter’s work does not constitute a conflic. He also said he has consulted the state’s judicial ethics advisory committee.
“Stated plainly, Defendant’s arguments are nothing more than a repetition of stale and unsubstantiated claims,” Juan Merchan said in his ruling.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump, who denies the affair, is set to be sentenced Sept. 18.
That sentencing hinges on if Juan Merchan determines the hearing can go continue given the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
