The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York has raised concerns with attorneys regarding a social media post that allegedly predicted a guilty verdict for the former president.
In a letter dated Friday, Judge Juan Merchan stated, “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.”
The controversial post, attributed to a user named Michael Anderson, read, “My cousin is a juror and said Trump is getting convicted.” According to Merchan, the comment, now labeled as one week old, was posted in response to a routine notice from the court on May 29 about unrelated oral arguments.
Under New York criminal procedure law, if a convicted defendant learns of potential jury misconduct before sentencing, they can move to set aside the verdict. The defendant must demonstrate that the alleged misconduct “may have affected a substantial right of the defendant,” potentially warranting a new trial.
NBC News has not verified the authenticity of the comment or the identity of the user who posted it. The comment has since been deleted, and NBC News has not independently confirmed its existence.
A Trump campaign official responded to inquiries about Merchan’s letter by saying, “we’re investigating.” Neither Trump’s attorneys nor a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office immediately responded to requests for comment on Friday afternoon.
Last month, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to Michael Cohen for hush money given to Stormy Daniels during the final days of the 2016 campaign. Trump had pleaded not guilty and denied Daniels’ claims of a 2006 sexual encounter. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11.
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