Judge who oversaw Trump hush money trial flags post on the court’s webpage claiming to know the verdict before it came down
By Elizabeth Hartfield, CNN
(CNN) — The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York on Friday informed the former president’s defense team and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office that a comment was posted on the New York State Unified Court Systems’ public Facebook page last week by a poster who claimed to be a cousin of a juror, saying that Trump would be convicted.
“My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!” read the comment.
It is not clear if there is any validity to the post. No evidence was provided to support the claim, and the jurors’ identities remain anonymous. A search of the poster’s Facebook page showed the poster described themself as “a professional sh*t poster,” among other things.
CNN has attempted to contact the poster.
Judge Juan Merchan said in a letter that the court had been made aware on Friday of the roughly week-old post, and that it was posted in response to a routine court system notice on May 29 about an unrelated matter. He did not ask the parties to take further action. The post is no longer visible on the court’s Facebook.
“As appropriate, the Court informed the parties once it learned of this online content,” Al Baker, a spokesperson for the court, said.
While Merchan informed the legal teams out of caution, the judge’s notice has no immediate effect on the case, according to CNN senior legal analyst and former state and federal prosecutor Elie Honig.
“The judge is being extra careful here to let the parties know any information that might give them the basis for a motion – there’s a long way though between this and any impact on the case,” Honig said. “First the judge would have to ascertain whether this is even true, and then if it is, whether there is any necessary legal remedy.”
If it were found to be true, it would not automatically be grounds for a mistrial, according to Honig.
The 12-person New York jury began its deliberations on May 29. The jurors sent two questions to the judge at the end of that court day: one asking to be read back portions of testimony from two key witnesses, David Pecker and Michael Cohen, and another requesting to rehear a portion of the judge’s instruction to the jury.
The requested testimonies and instructions were read back to them the next morning. Hours later, just after 4:30 p.m., the jury returned its verdict.
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