Outrage as Judge Juan Merchan shares juror's message informing family 'Trump is getting convicted' before verdict
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the criminal hush money trial of Donald Trump in the Manhattan Criminal Court, notified his defense team of a comment on the court's public Facebook page that implied one of the jurors discussed the guilty verdict with his family before the trial concluded, reports Fox News.
Trump was unanimously convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by a 12-member panel of NY jury members on May 30. In a historic verdict, it was the first time a former President of the United States was convicted of a crime. The presumptive GOP nominee is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, and the penalties he faces range from a fine to four years in prison on each count.
The defendant as well as his supporters have frequently called the trial a sham and accused it of being evidence that the justice department was being weaponized to target them by the federal administration under incumbent Joe Biden.
Judge Juan Merchan reveals message juror shared with family
A letter shared by Judge Merchan with the defense attorneys of Trump as well as his prosecutors has reportedly been obtained by Fox News, which reads, "Today, the Court became aware of a comment that was posted on the Unified Court System's public Facebook page and which I now bring to your attention."
"In the comment, the user, ‘Michael Anderson,’ states: 'My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted! Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!'"
The comment "regarding oral arguments in the Fourth Department of the Appellate Division unrelated to this proceeding" was posted on May 29, a day before the jury announced the verdict in court.
According to the publication, the profile for 'Michael Anderson' has the user identifying as "Transabled & professional s**tposter," but has little other publicly available information.
Al Baker, the state OCA spokesperson, has expressed that "as appropriate, the Court informed the parties once it learned of this online content," while a Trump campaign official stated that they were "investigating the matter."
Internet says Donald Trump's hush money trial was 'fixed'
Responding to the news on the social media platform Facebook, a user wrote, "The fix was in from the start."
"Guilty verdict was determined before the grand jury was convened," jibed another.
"Then it must be ruled as a mistrial or the verdict thrown out!" stated a third.
"Everyone knows it was all rigged from the start. Not Guilty was not even on the jury forms," commented a fourth.
"Such a kangaroo court!" chided a fifth.
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.
