House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has subpoenaed the CEO of a political consulting firm that employs the daughter of the New York judge expected to sentence former President Donald Trump next month.
Jordan informed Authentic Campaigns CEO Michael Nellis of the subpoena on Wednesday, in a letter accusing him of failing to comply with prior requests for information from House Republicans related to the firm’s work with Trump’s political adversaries.
“As such, the Committee is left with no choice but to resort to compulsory process,” Jordan wrote. “Popularly elected prosecutors, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, have engaged in an unprecedented abuse of authority by prosecuting a former President of the United States and current nominee for that office.”
“Of relevance to the Committee’s oversight is the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding trial judge, due to his refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases.”
New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is due to sentence Trump, 78, in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office hush money case against the former president on Sept. 18.
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s legal team has long called for Merchan to recuse himself from the case over his own past political donations and his daughter’s consulting work for prominent Democrats.
Loren Merchan, the judge’s daughter, is the president and a minority partner of Authentic Campaigns, whose top clients include Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) – the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial – and the Senate Majority PAC, a major Democratic Party fundraiser.
“One such conflict is Ms. Merchan’s — daughter of Judge Merchan and President of Authentic Campaigns — work on behalf of President Trump’s political adversaries and the possible financial benefit that Ms. Merchan and Authentic Campaigns received from the prosecution and conviction of President Trump,” Jordan wrote, noting that he has gleaned from public reports that both Nellis and Loren Merchan were “closely involved in the presidential campaigns of both President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
“During Ms. Merchan’s employment with the Harris campaign, Authentic Campaigns received over $7 million in compensation for its services,” the Ohio Republican said. “[Nellis] also worked for then-presidential candidate Harris and it appears you continue to do so. Authentic Campaigns conducted work for the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign and, according to public records, was paid just over $2 million in a one-month period for its work.”
The letter demands that Nellis sit for a deposition and sign a sworn affidavit that Authentic Campaigns never communicated with the New York judge.
Nellis shared an image of the subpoena on X Wednesday, calling it an “abuse of power” and indicating that he is reviewing the document with his lawyers.
“Let us be clear: these allegations against our company are completely false and purely politically motivated,” he wrote. “This is a blatant attempt to intimidate us and divert attention from Donald Trump’s conviction.”
Jordan has asked Nellis to comply with the subpoena by Sept. 13.
New York’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics determined last year that the independent political activities of a judge’s relative are not “a reasonable basis” to question a judge’s “impartiality.”
