The New York judge who oversees Donald Trump silent money trial asked lawyers on the case about a social media post that purported to predict the former president’s guilty verdict.
“Today, the Court became aware of a comment that was posted on the public Facebook page of the Unified Judicial System and to which I now bring your attention,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote in a Letter dated Friday.
“My cousin is a juror and said Trump is being convicted,” the post stated, according to Merchan’s letter. “Thanks guys for all your hard work!!!!”
Merchan said the comment, attributed to a user identified as Michael Anderson, “has now been labeled as having occurred a week ago” and was posted in response to a routine court notice posted May 29 regarding oral arguments unrelated to the lawsuit in The Case for Trump.
When a defendant who has been convicted by a jury but has not yet been sentenced becomes aware of alleged jury misconduct, he or she may move to set aside the verdict under New York criminal procedure law. If a defendant can prove that the jury’s misconduct “may have affected a substantial right of the defendant,” the remedy is a new trial.
NBC News did not verify the claims made in the comment or the identity of the user who posted the post, which has since been deleted. NBC News also has not independently confirmed the existence of the comment.
A Trump campaign official said “we are investigating” when asked about Merchan’s letter.
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon, nor did a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Trump was sentenced last month in 34 counts of falsifying business records tied to Cohen’s reimbursement for hush money paid to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and denied Daniels’ claims that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. The sentence of Trump in the case is scheduled for July 11.
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