Joedy McCrearyUSA TODAY
The claim: Justice Juan Merchan was ‘fired’ after jury in Trump hush-money trial illegally leaked verdict
A June 8 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a TikTok video of a man talking about Manhattan Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial.
“MISTRIAL: Judge Merchan FIRED After New York Jury Illegally LEAKED Trump Verdict BEFORE Conviction!” text in the video reads.
The post was liked more than 100 times in five days. The video also was shared thousands of times on TikTok.
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Our rating: False
Merchan has not been “fired” and remains on the bench. The claim mischaracterizes a letter he sent lawyers about a Facebook comment that alleged a verdict leak in the case. The Facebook user later admitted the claim was a hoax, according to multiple media reports.
Merchan not ‘fired,’ will sentence Trump in July
Merchan presided over the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, with a New York jury on May 30 convicting Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to an adult film actress before the 2016 election. A week later, the justice notified lawyers for both sides about a Facebook comment from someone who claimed to have been told the verdict by a juror before it was announced.
But the claim in the Instagram post is wrong for multiple reasons. Merchan has not been “fired," and the Facebook user acknowledged his claim was a hoax, multiple media outlets reported.
Fact check: No evidence for conspiracy theory that Joe Biden is behind Donald Trump's New York charges
The post “is rather obviously misleading for several reasons,” John Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University who has closely followed Trump’s legal issues, said in an email to USA TODAY.
Merchan – an acting justice of the Criminal Term of the Supreme Court, New York County since 2009 – remains listed in the New York State Unified Court System directory and is scheduled to sentence Trump on July 11. There are no credible reports he has been removed. Nor have there been any official announcements of a change.
The state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates allegations of misconduct against judges and justices, may recommend the removal of one following an investigation and a hearing. That judge would then have 30 days to appeal to the state Court of Appeals.
A Supreme Court justice in New York also may also be removed after receiving a statement of cause and a two-thirds vote for removal by both chambers of the Legislature, according to the state constitution.
Neither action has taken place.
Reports: Facebook user said claim of ‘cousin’ leaking Trump verdict was a hoax
The post’s video also references the June 7 letter Merchan sent to both teams of lawyers, but overreaches in describing its contents. It does not confirm an illegal leak of the verdict took place, does not evaluate the credibility of the claim and does not make mention of either an investigation or an accusation against any juror.
Rather, it points out a comment posted on the court system’s Facebook page from a user named “Michael Anderson” who wrote a week earlier that “my cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted.” It was shared as a reply to an unrelated May 29 post that has since been deleted, according to the letter.
That Facebook user said his claim was a hoax in a subsequent post in which he also described himself with a profane term for a prankster, according to reports from multiple media outlets. USA TODAY was not able to contact the poster, who appears to have deleted the account.
“The fact that several reliable news outlets reported that the posting appeared to be work of a well-known crank poster, that it appears not to have ever been seriously investigated and that the unanimous jury verdict was taken and entered as final and valid strongly suggests that the posting in question was not taken seriously, and that it may well have been wrong,” Banzhaf said.
In other words, "It was correct about the outcome, but was more in the nature of a lucky guess from someone seeking to attract attention than the disclosure of some previously secret information," Banzhaf added.
Trump’s hush-money trial has been a frequent source of misinformation. USA TODAY has previously debunked false claims that Trump faces 187 years in prison and that an image shows the former president being taken into custody.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram and TikTok users who shared the video but did not immediately receive responses from either.
Our fact-check sources:
- John Banzhaf, June 12, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, accessed June 17, Judiciary Law
- New York State Unified Court System, June 7, Letter from Justice Juan Merchan to Todd Blanche, ADA Joshua Steinglass
- New York State Unified Court System, accessed June 13, Hon. Juan Manuel Merchan
- New York State Unified Court System, accessed June 13, Judicial Directory
- The New York State Senate, Sept. 22, 2014, Section 23
- Raw Story, June 7, 'Take it easy': Internet troll who gave Trump team hopes of a mistrial admits making it up
- Katie Phang, June 7, X post
- The Independent, June 7, A self-described ‘s** poster’ launched a Trump conviction conspiracy theory with one Facebook message
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