The House Judiciary Committee announced it issued a subpoena to Michael Nellis, the founder and CEO of Authentic Campaigns, over its role in what it claims is "Manhattan District Attorney's political prosecution" of former President Donald Trump.
The committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, said it issued the compulsory call after Authentic Campaigns President Loren Merchan declined to provide requested documents. Merchan is the daughter of Juan Merchan, the judge who oversaw Trump's so-called hush money case.
The body said in early August that "experts have substantial concerns" that Merchan did not recuse himself from the case even though Loren worked "on behalf of President Trump's political adversaries and the financial benefit that your firm could receive from the prosecution and conviction."
"Since 2019, you have been closely involved in presidential campaigns for both President Biden and Vice President Harris. In 2019, you served as the director of digital persuasion for then-presidential candidate Harris' campaign while simultaneously serving as Vice President at Authentic Campaigns, a 'Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm.'"
The committee claimed that this led to a conflict of interest for the judge, something that led to "several errors before and during" the trial, where Trump was ultimately found guilty by a grand jury. "Congress has a specific and manifestly important interest in preventing politically motivated persecutions of current and former presidents, especially in venues in which real or Committee's oversight, that would remedy politically motivated local prosecutions by allowing a current or former president to remove the case to a more neutral forum in federal court," reads a passage of the letter.
In that context, the body requested a series of documents from Authentic Campaigns, including contracts or invoices "for or on behalf of the Biden for President campaign, the Harris for President campaign, or the Democratic National Committee," as well as communications with them or work related to the Trump case and with judge Merchan.
Following the refusal to do so over the month, the committee is now seeking to legally bind Michael Nellis, the CEO of the company, to testify on the potential conflict of interest.
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