The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s secret trial questioned lawyers in the case about a social media post purporting to provide insight into the former president’s guilty verdict.
“Today the Court became aware of a comment posted on the public Facebook page of the Unified Court System and to which I now bring your attention,” Justice Juan Merchan wrote in a letter dated Friday.
“My cousin is on juror and said Trump was going to be convicted,” the post said, according to Merchan’s letter. “Thank you guys for all your hard work!!!! »
Merchan said the comment, attributed to a user identified as Michael Anderson, was “now labeled as a week old” and was posted in response to a routine court notice issued May 29 regarding unrelated pleadings. the procedure in Trump’s case.
NBC News has not verified the claims made in the comment or the identity of the user who posted the post, which has since been deleted. NBC News has also 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 convicted last month of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to reimbursing Cohen for money paid to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Trump had pleaded not guilty in that case and denied Daniels’ claims that she had a sexual relationship with him in 2006. Trump’s sentencing in the case is scheduled for July 11.