Legal Analysts Blast New York Times Report on Trump DOJ Investigation
Key Takeaways
- •Todd Blanche declined to promise that the Justice Department would always operate independently of the White House.
- •The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors in Chicago are investigating Authentic Campaigns, a firm partly owned by Lauren Merchan.
- •Subpoenas in the probe reportedly concern the firm’s dealings with Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Kathy Hochul, Hakeem Jeffries, and the DNC.
- •The bias claims involving Judge Juan Merchan had already been rejected by New York’s judicial ethics commission and appellate courts.
- •Analysts said Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros is leading the investigation and warned that the matter could lead to professional fallout.
Legal analysts on MeidasTouch's "Legal AF" podcast reacted with surprise this week to what they called a "bombshell" New York Times report.
They said the report caught President Donald Trump's "forked-tongue" Justice Department in the act just days after new Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to pledge that the department would operate independently of the White House.
When asked whether the DOJ would always act independently of the White House, Blanche would not commit.
"No, I'm not going to pledge that," he said.
Days later, the Times reported that the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago has been investigating a Democratic firm tied to the daughter of Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who presided over Trump's conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. Prosecutors issued subpoenas probing Authentic Campaigns, partly owned by Lauren Merchan, and its dealings with prominent Democrats, including Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and the DNC.
The panel said the bias allegation is not new and had already been rejected by New York's judicial ethics commission and appellate courts, which upheld Merchan as impartial. That history is part of what made the Times report notable for the panel: it suggested a renewed federal look at an issue that courts had already addressed in the underlying Trump case.
"Right on cue," legal analyst Michael Popok said, calling the Justice Department's denial "double talk" and "forked-tongued" while saying it is "going after Donald Trump's political enemies after Todd Blanche has told the world he doesn't do that."
"It's obvious that you do do that," he said.
Fellow legal analyst Adam Klasfeld described the probe as harassment of the judge's family, while analyst Dina Doll warned that "nobody who has stood up to him is safe."
The analysts also pointed to the fact that the probe is being led by Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros. His office is already facing the "Broadview Six" grand-jury misconduct allegations and previously investigated Reid Hoffman's litigation financing for E. Jean Carroll.
They warned that Blanche and Boutros could face professional fallout, citing the fate of attorneys such as Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, who were disbarred after Trump's first term.
