Ben Whedon at Just the News (April 15, 2024, 6:21 p.m.) reported that Judge Juan Merchan declined to recuse himself for the second time, on the first day of trial in the Bragg case. Whedon, citing The Hill, quoted Merchan: “The defendants’ second motion for recusal is denied.” That is a reporter’s quotation of an on-record statement. This site does not have a separate signed PDF of that one-line ruling and will not invent one.
Fox News the same day: “Judge presiding over Trump hush money case declines to recuse himself.” Both pieces recap Loren Merchan’s employment at Authentic and the first denial in August 2023. Employment of an adult child at a Democratic consulting firm is a public allegation and a public fact of the recusal papers. It is not a finding that she was a party, a witness, or a payee of the court.
Whedon also noted that Trump’s criticisms of Loren prompted the gag-order expansion covering families of the judge and the district attorney. That expansion is the April 1 order in the gag post. Keep the labels straight: motion, reporting of the denial, signed gag PDF.