Judge rejects Donald Trump’s latest request to drop criminal case for hush money

NEW YORK — Donald Trump has lost his latest bid for a new judge in his hush money case as he heads toward a key ruling and potential sentencing next month.

Judge Juan M. Merchan refused to recuse himself Wednesday, rejecting the third such request by lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate.

All three times, they claimed Merchan had a conflict of interest because of his daughter’s work as a political consultant for prominent Democrats and campaigns. Among them was Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 candidacy.

A state court ethics panel said last year that Merchan could continue the case, writing that a relative’s independent political activities were not “a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality.”

Merchan has repeatedly said he is confident he can handle the case fairly and impartially.

But with Harris now Trump’s Democratic opponent in this year’s race for the White House, Trump attorney Todd Blanche wrote in a letter to the judge last month that the defense’s concerns have become “even more concrete.”

Prosecutors called the claims “a vexatious and frivolous attempt to reframe” the issue.