The judge who oversaw Trump’s quiet trial posted flags on the court’s webpage, claiming to know the verdict before it was handed down.

CNN
—

The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York on Friday informed the former president’s defense team and prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that a commentary was posted last week about the public Facebook page of the New York State Unified Judicial System by a poster who claimed to be the cousin of a juror, claiming that Trump would be convicted.

“My cousin is on jury duty and says Trump is convicted. Thanks guys for all your hard work!!!” read the comment.

It is unclear whether the message is valid. No evidence has been provided to support this claim and the identities of the jurors remain anonymous. A search of the poster’s Facebook page showed that the poster described himself as “a professional shit poster,” among other things.

CNN attempted to contact the poster.

Judge Juan Merchan said in a letter that the court was informed Friday of the post about a week old and that it was issued in response to a routine notice from the court system on May 29 regarding an unrelated matter . He did not ask the parties to take further action. The message is no longer visible on the Court’s Facebook page.

“Where appropriate, the Court informed the parties as soon as it became aware of this online content,” said Al Baker, a spokesperson for the Court.

Although Merchan informed legal teams out of an abundance of caution, the judge’s opinion has no immediate effect on the case, according to CNN senior legal analyst and former state and federal prosecutor Elie Honig.

“The judge is very careful here to inform the parties of any information that might give them the basis for a motion – there is a long way from that to impacting the case, however,” Honig said. “The judge will first have to verify whether this is true, and then, if so, whether there is any legal recourse necessary.”

If true, it would not automatically constitute grounds for a mistrial, according to Honig.

The New York jury, made up of 12 people, began its deliberations on May 29. Jurors sent two questions to the judge at the end of the day’s hearing: one asking to reread portions of the testimony of two key witnesses, David Pecker and Michael Cohen, and another asking to rehear part of the prosecutor’s instructions. jury judge.

The requested tests and instructions were read back to them the next morning. A few hours later, shortly after 4:30 p.m., the jury returned its verdict.