America First Legal has filed several Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits aimed at increasing transparency around the prosecution of Donald Trump in New York.
This includes a request for financial disclosure records from Judge Juan Merchan overseeing the trial due to allegations of political bias.
AFL also sued the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleging racial and gender discrimination in hiring based on screensshots on their website demonstrating explicit quotas.
“Under New York Law, judges are required to file annual financial disclosures which are required to be made available for inspection upon request. AFL has filed such a request for Acting Judge Merchan’s disclosures for reporting years 2018 through 2024,” AFL stated. “AFL will release any documents obtained from this request.”
“The evidence is that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office uses ‘diversity’ as a proxy for hiring and promotion quotas. The Office’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion web page — listed under ‘About the Office’ alongside only two other pages, ‘Meet Alvin Bragg” and ‘History of the Office’ — demonstrates that Bragg operates a program of racial balancing to build ‘a diverse [sic] workforce that reflects [diverse] communities,’” AFL wrote.
Furthermore, AFL is suing the Department of Justice to obtain records pertaining to the hiring of Matthew Colangelo, a former top DOJ official who now works on the Trump prosecution team, in order to reveal potential political influences.
The group is demanding additional communications it claims are relevant to the case.
“Today, AFL sued the DOJ to compel the immediate release of previously requested records regarding Matthew Colangelo, a key figure in the partisan and politically-motivated prosecution of President Trump in Manhattan,” America First Legal wrote.
AFL is pursuing legal actions to shine light on perceived partisan behaviors influencing the ongoing trial.
