Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan revealed Friday that a Facebook user claiming to be a “cousin” of a juror in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial suggested he had advanced knowledge of last week’s guilty verdict.
“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,” Merchan wrote in a letter to Trump attorney Todd Blanche and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
“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 judge explained.
The comment was included in a response to a May 29 post on the New York court system’s Facebook page that was unrelated to the 77-year-old former president’s trial.
Facebook labeled the comment as being “one week old” when it was noticed, according to Merchan.
Al Baker, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Court Administration, told The Post that “As appropriate, the Court informed the parties once it learned of this online content.”
Trump’s attorney and the Manhattan DA’s office did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The Post could not locate the comment in question as it appears to have been deleted from the social media platform.
What happens next after Trump is found guilty in hush money case
- Donald Trump, who was found guilty on all 34 counts, will remain free until his scheduled sentencing on the morning of July 11.
- The former president also does not face any travel restrictions until the sentencing.
- Trump’s attorneys said they plan to appeal the verdict “as soon as we can.”
- If Trump loses an appeal with the mid-level appeals court, he’ll likely seek to have the state’s highest court hear his case, which could take an additional year.
Here you can read more about what happens next following the historic guilty verdict and what Trump potentially faces.
In his Facebook profile, Anderson describes himself as a “Transabled & a professional sh** poster.”
Last Thursday, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an apparent effort to conceal hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
It’s unclear if Anderson’s Facebook comment will have any effect on the guilty verdict, or if he actually discussed the case with a juror.
