A former prosecutor warned that even a minute donation from the judge overseeing the Trump trial to his opponent in 2020 may damage public trust in the entire case.
Former prosecutor Carol Lam told MSNBC that while the judge overseeing Trump’s case may have made a small donation to Biden’s campaign, "the optics are a bit problematic."
On MSNBC, former Southern California U.S. Attorney Carol Lam warned that Merchan’s past political donations could hurt public perception of the trial. HOUSE JUDICIARY ‘SERIOUS WEIGHING’ SUBPOENAS FOR BRAGG, EX-PROSECUTORS AFTER TRUMP INDICTMENT: SOURCE "To be clear, the donations were made in 2020, before Judge Merchan had either the Trump organization case assigned to him or, obviously, this case, but it is troubling optics, I think, for any judge to have made a political contribution, and then to have a party who is either the beneficiary or not the beneficiary of that political contribution before that judge in court," she said.
"Now, it was a trivial amount of money and this is a trial level judge. The judge in this case is not the ultimate trier of fact, the jury is, but the judge does call some balls and some strikes during the course of the trial, and if there’s a conviction, the judge is responsible for sentencing," she said.
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