Social media is abuzz right now over a letter that is allegedly written by Judge Juan Merchan to Trump attorney Todd Blanche, and Joshua Steinglass, the lead prosecutor in Trump's New York City trial.
In the letter, Merchan alerts both men to a Facebook post by someone who claims to be the cousin of a juror who revealed that Trump was going to be convicted—a day before the verdict was announced.
Dear Counsel:
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, now labeled as one week old, responded to a routine UCS notice, posted on May 29, 2024, regarding oral arguments in the Fourth Department of the Appellate Division unrelated to this proceeding. The posting, entitled "The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, will hear oral arguments this morning at 10," and the comment are both viewable at https://www.facebook.com/NewYorkCourts/.
I was inclined to ignore the social media posts about this alleged letter until I saw that Miranda Devine of the New York Post share screenshots of the letter—though she isn't completely convinced it's legit either.
If this is legit, it should wipe out Trump’s conviction.
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) June 7, 2024
Judge Juan Merchan has alerted Trump’s attorneys to a Facebook post by a supposed cousin of a Trump juror who spilled the beans that he had inside info that Trump was about to be convicted
"My cousin is a juror and says… pic.twitter.com/Tjj6F4x6XV
Upon further research, the letter does, in fact, appear to be legitimate. You can find the letter here on the New York Courts website.
Even though the letter appears to be legitimate, there's no guarantee that the comment itself is legitimate.
The letter has gone viral, and "Mistrial" is trending on X/Twitter.
If a juror actually talked about the Trump case, this may be heading right to a mistrial
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) June 7, 2024
Judge Juan Merchan sent this letter to Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche pic.twitter.com/eHfpekzeUC
Wow, a person claiming to be the cousin of a juror posted the day before the conviction on the court’s Facebook page that Trump was getting convicted. If this is confirmed, the case would likely be a mistrial. Quite the Friday news dump! pic.twitter.com/ljMSmENgNx
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 7, 2024
Uh oh! It looks like there was juror misconduct in the #TrumpTrial!
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) June 7, 2024
We knew these jurors would not be able to avoid telling their friends and relatives that were going to get Trump
It’s time for a mistrial “with prejudice” and no retrial!
But will Merchan do the right thing? pic.twitter.com/HyfnlUVFlZ
If all of this is legitimate, then, of course, the verdicts should be thrown out and a mistrial declared. The Facebook post will have to be investigated first, and who knows what will happen there.
This story is breaking and will be updated when new information is available.
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