Early last year, Donald Trump reminded the political world that he’s comfortable targeting his perceived foes’ family members. In fact, as special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations advanced, the former president publicly lashed out at the prosecutor’s wife and sister-in-law in the apparent hopes of delegitimizing Smith’s work.
As 2023 wrapped up, and the Trump Organization’s fraud case intensified, the Republican ran the same play, targeting the judge’s wife, again with the intention of discrediting those who might hold him accountable for his actions.
This week, as the hush-money-to-a-porn-star criminal case against the former president advances, Trump once again read from the same script: He tried to discredit New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan by going after the jurist’s daughter.
In fact, as part of a series of items published on his social media platform, the Republican even offered what he characterized as compelling evidence: The judge’s daughter published “pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail.” The former president, in a separate item, added that it’s “completely impossible” for him to get a fair trial because Merchan’s daughter “just posted a picture of me behind bars.”
A New York Times report highlighted the problem with Trump’s claim.
The New York State Court system says the account on X is bogus. Although the handle once belonged to the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, she deleted it about a year ago, a court spokesman said. Someone else — it is unclear who — has since taken it over.
A spokesperson for New York’s Office of Court Administration explained. “The X, formerly Twitter, account being attributed to Judge Merchan’s daughter no longer belongs to her. It is not linked to her email address, nor has she posted under that screen name since she deleted the account. Rather, it represents the reconstitution, last April, and manipulation of an account she long ago abandoned.”
To be sure, this is hardly the first time that Trump has peddled false claims, but it’s worth appreciating the familiarity of these specific circumstances.
In fact, it was just a few months ago when the Republican targeted Judge Arthur Engoron’s wife by pointing to her social media content. It wasn’t long, however, before the public learned that the content in question did not, in fact, come from the jurist’s spouse.
In the same case, Trump also claimed that the judge’s principal law clerk had a personal relationship with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. This wasn’t true, either.
In a separate instance, Trump complained about Engoron’s son — twice — but the man in the photographs the former president referenced was actually a local reporter who wasn’t related to the judge at all.
The Republican’s habit of going after family members is awful. Trump’s habit of going after family members with claims that fall apart under scrutiny makes the problem worse.
Steve Benen
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.”
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