Retired Judge to CNN: NY Statute Says Judge Must Disqualify Himself if Daughter has Interest in the Outcome of Proceeding (Video)

IT’S ABOUT APPEARANCE OF IMPARTIALITY CASE: Manhattan, New York (Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg) v. Donald Trump CNN: Retired judge says statute cited in Trump’s motion raises concerns about judge in hush money case: (April 6, 2024) Retired US district court judge for the Southern District of New York Shira Scheindlin says there are parts of former President Donald Trump’s legal team’s motion asking Judge Juan Merchan to recuse himself from the New York hush money case that concern her. The retired NY judge was probably referring to a motion from Trump’s lawyers showing how the adult daughter of NY judge Juan Merchan has financial interest in her father’s case against Trump. Retired NY judge Shira Scheindlin said this to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins: [Emphasis added] I had the chance to read the motion and [Trump’s lawyers] put together a composite of issues that would cause me a little bit of pause. (…) The main focus of this motion … is on the daughter’s line of work. As you already said, the daughter [of Judge Merchan] works with many, many high-profile Democratic candidates. She works on their social media. They put out a post. They get contributions. She, as an owner, gets a percentage of those contributions. So, there is a statute in New York which says: ‘a judge must disqualify himself if a person known by the judge to be within the sixth degree of relationship the daughter is the first degree) has interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceedings. The question here is: Is this daughter likely to profit, to benefit from the outcome of this proceeding? And you have to understand. It’s not actual conduct that’s worrisome. It’s the appearance to a reasonable person that this judge cannot be fair and impartial given that relationship. Video via Robert Gouveia:

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