America First Legal (AFL) is suing New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan for refusing to turn over his financial disclosures amid questions about his daughter’s work at a Democratic firm, Fox News Digital has learned. 

AFL sued Merchan, who presided over former President Donald Trump’s six-week-long trial in New York v. Trump, stemming from the yearslong investigation out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. They also sued the New York State Unified Court System’s Ethics Commission.

Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump has appealed the ruling and called on Merchan to overturn the verdict. 

The lawsuit comes after the AFL sent a demand letter last week for Merchan’s financial disclosures, threatening legal action. The AFL previously requested those records in June. 

Under New York law, judges are required to file annual financial disclosures, which are required to be made available upon request. 

‘The law is clear that judicial financial disclosures must be released to the public,’ AFL Vice President Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. ‘New York’s highest court has stated that such disclosures are necessary for parties before the courts to get a fair shake.’ 

Epstein said the public ‘needs to know what Judge Merchan is hiding or even if he failed to file financial disclosures at all.’ 

‘This is especially important given the fact that Merchan appears to have engaged in unlawful campaign contributions and is on the precipice of criminally sentencing the former president of the United States,’ Epstein said. ‘Fundamental fairness dictates a resolution of America First Legal’s suit in its favor.’ 

The AFL is seeking the records amid longstanding concerns of a conflict of interest in Merchan’s role in the trial amid his daughter’s political work. 

Loren Merchan sits as the president for Authentic Campaigns — a company that has done political work for top Democrat clients like President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

‘Clearly, Justice Merchan’s daughter and her clients stand to profit handsomely from lawfare against President Trump,’ the AFL wrote in its lawsuit. 

They also noted that Judge Merchan has donated to Democratic causes, including to Biden’s campaign and a group called ‘Stop Republicans.’ 

In July 2023, the Commission on Judicial Conduct cautioned Merchan for his ‘improper political donations to the Biden campaign and ‘Stop Republicans,’’ the lawsuit states. 

‘Given the magnitude of the Criminal Matter and Justice Merchan’s readily apparent political bias, conflict, and partiality, public-interest organizations such as AFL have a keen interest in obtaining the Requested Disclosures and shining light on his finances,’ the lawsuit states. 

Republicans have accused Judge Merchan of political bias over his daughter’s political work. Trump’s legal team asked Merchan to recuse himself before the trial began, which he did not.

A New York state ethics panel backed Merchan’s decision in a June 2023 decision.

The House Judiciary Committee, last week, subpoenaed Authentic Campaigns after the company refused to provide information and records related to the prosecution of former President Trump in New York v. Trump. 

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said that Judge Merchan’s ‘impartiality’ has come into question over his daughter’s work and his ‘refusal to recuse himself from the case in light of his apparent conflicts of interest and biases.’ 

The CEO of Authentic reacted to the subpoena last week, saying the allegations against the company are ‘completely false and purely politically motivated.’ 

‘This is a blatant attempt to intimidate us and divert attention from Donald Trump’s conviction,’ CEO Michael Nellis said. ‘We refuse to be bullied, and we will not allow House Republicans or MAGA extremists to spread lies about our work.’ 

Meanwhile, Trump’s sentencing has been set for Sept. 18. He has requested that it be delayed until after the November presidential election. 

Merchan has yet to make a decision on the matter. 

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has found a new job in the private sector.

Haley, who previously served as ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump, is headed to global communications firm Edelman.

‘Politics has become a critical consideration for clients in brand marketing, employee engagement and reputation management,’ CEO Richard Edelman wrote in an announcement of the company’s new hire.

‘In her time as Governor, Haley had great success in attracting foreign companies to South Carolina and as Ambassador to the UN, helped lead important work on global issues,’ he continued.

Edelman is hoping Haley’s long career in politics will allow her to offer perspective and guidance regarding the intersection of politics and business.

Haley dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential race earlier this year after a series of state primaries broke in favor of Trump and rendered her path to the White House nearly impossible.

She has since endorsed Trump after he received the Republican nominee in July.

Haley told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier last month on ‘Special Report’ Republicans and Trump should focus on policy and messaging instead of crowd sizes at rallies, Vice President Kamala Harris’ race, or attacks on her intellect.

‘You can’t win on those things. The American people are smart. Treat them like they’re smart,’ she said. ‘It’s not about her. It’s about the American people. Talk to them and let them know you need their vote.’

‘In a time of growing complexities in business, policy, and politics — brands need to anticipate what’s coming next,’ Haley said of her new position at Edelman in the company announcement. ‘Whether managing a crisis or celebrating a success, industry leaders must be ready to communicate clearly and share their vision forward. I’m excited to join the team at Edelman to help their clients navigate the challenges ahead.’

She is expected to begin working next month.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.

Sen. JD Vance is trailing behind Gov. Tim Walz in favorability ratings as the pair push toward Election Day, according to a new poll from USA Today and Suffolk University.

A survey conducted after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago found that 36% of likely voters have a favorable view of Vance, while 48% approve of Walz. Former President Trump’s running mate fared similarly among independents, where 47% said they had an unfavorable view of Vance, but just 36% said they had an unfavorable view of Walz, who is running alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

USA Today and Suffolk University surveyed 1,000 likely voters from August 25-28 over cellphone and landlines. The poll advertises a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The polling comes after Vance has adopted a media blitz strategy of accepting interviews even with outlets seen as hostile to the Trump campaign. Meanwhile, Walz and Harris have faced criticism for their relative lack of media transparency.

Harris and Walz conducted a joint, pre-recorded interview with CNN’s Dana Bash last week, but the pair have avoided more rigorous press events.

Trump and Vance have sat down for at least 38 combined interviews since Harris revealed Walz as her running mate.

Since Aug. 6, Trump has spoken with Fox News’ ‘Life, Liberty & Levin’ host Mark Levin, NBC News, the Daily Mail, Dr. Phil, Fox News’ Alicia Acuna, Hugh Hewitt Radio, FOX Business, podcaster Theo Von, the New York Post, WBRE News Wilkes-Barre, WLOS News 13 Asheville, Univision, and ‘FOX & Friends’ twice. He’s also made at least two other cable news appearances and sat down with supporter Elon Musk for a lengthy conversation, according to a Fox News Digital review.

The former president also sat down with podcaster Lex Fridman in an interview that was posted on Tuesday and a New Hampshire radio show on Wednesday, followed by a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Vance, who has been critical of Harris dodging the press, has spoken to ‘FOX & Friends,’ CNN’s John Berman, WBAY2, News 5 Cleveland, NBC News, ‘Meet the Press,’ No Spin News, WALB 10, ‘CBS Evening News,’ ‘The Brett Winterble Show,’ ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ ‘Fox News Sunday,’ ‘The Dan O’Donnell Show,’ ABC’s ‘This Week,’ CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ and CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ over that same time period.

Vance also appeared on Fox News’ ‘The Ingraham Angle’ on Tuesday.

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report

Former President Donald Trump told a Fox News town hall in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night that he was the ‘toughest’ on Russia and that several global conflicts would not have happened under his watch. 

‘I was the toughest on Russia. Putin would even say, you know, if you’re not the toughest guy, you are, you’re killing us,’ Trump told Sean Hannity while discussing his actions opposing the Nord Stream pipeline. ‘I’d hate to see you if you were really tough.’

‘This was the biggest job they’ve ever had and I stopped it.’

Trump continued, ‘We have things going on in the world right now with Israel and with the Middle East, it’s blowing up. It’s blowing up. We have Ukraine and Russia. That would never happen. That would have never happened. October 7th would have never happened. If I were the president, they would have never happened. And everybody knows it.’

Trump went on to say that the ‘whole world’ was a safe place during his presidency.

‘That was the question they asked Viktor Orban, who is considered a very strong man. They said, ‘he’s a strong man,” Trump said. ‘Sometimes you need a strong man. He’s a strong man. He’s the prime minister of Hungary.’

‘And he said, you bring back Trump, everybody. Now I’m not saying it, but he said it because I’d rather say respect. But he said everybody was afraid of Trump. You bring him back, you’re not going to have any problems. It’s all going to go away. The world is blowing up.’

Trump pointed to the various problems going on around the world and said, ‘We’re heading into World War three territory.’

Recent Fox News polling shows that 4% of voters rank foreign policy as their most important issue heading into the 2024 election.

The polling shows that voters favor Trump by 5 points in terms of who is better positioned to handle foreign policy. 

No one knows who’s going to win this election.

The polls are so tight in the top battleground states, with Donald Trump or Kamala Harris leading by a point or two – a statistical tie – that a small number of voters or even the weather could make the difference.

There is a sense that Kamala’s crusade has stalled. She got no bump from the Democratic convention, perhaps because her joy-filled, vibes-based campaign had already soared during her first month as the nominee.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s approval rating has jumped to 48 percent, the highest of his presidency. Some pundits are crediting an improvement in the economy, but that’s not it. It’s because the president is largely out of the line of fire now that he’s stepped aside. 

So the media have begun beating the drums for next Tuesday’s ABC debate, which may be the only such encounter between the two. If Trump can be disciplined and saddle Harris with the unpopular Biden record, he’ll win. If Harris can hold her own against a former president and deflect his attacks, she will have closed the stature gap.

And of course the airwaves will be flooded with partisans saying their candidate annihilated the other candidate.

In an interesting thought experiment, the New York Times had two columnists – both anti-Trump conservatives – write opposing pieces looking back on a Trump or Harris victory.

David Brooks, who is friendly with Biden, said the Trump camp ‘had one job: to define Kamala Harris as an elite San Francisco liberal before she could define herself as a middle-class moderate. The Trump campaign did next to nothing. All they needed was to play the 2019 clips of Harris sounding like a wokester cliché, but they couldn’t even come up with an argument…

‘This mistake could have been fatal for the Republicans, because Trump is the 46 percent man. That’s roughly the share of the popular vote he won in 2016 and 2020. He was never going to ride a majority wave to victory in 2024, so it would have been helpful to take his opponent down a few points.

‘And yet this is the pattern with Trump. He seems to do everything possible to sabotage his own campaigns, but still does surprisingly well in elections.’

That’s in part because Trump does 2 or 3 percent better, based on the last two elections, than his preelection polling. And the pundits should get that by now.

Though Trump could be ‘jerkish,’ says Brooks, the fastest-growing states are mostly governed by Republicans, including Florida, Texas, Idaho and Montana.

What’s more, ‘the Democrats dominate the media, the universities, the cultural institutions and government. Even the big corporations, headquartered in places like New York and San Francisco, are trending blue…

‘This is what the educated elites always do. They promise to do stuff for us, but they end up serving only themselves.’

And in my view, that’s always been the secret to Trump’s success: Playing on the resentments of those mostly less educated voters who feel the game is rigged against them. It’s the thing about Trump loyalists that top journalists, who tend to move in the same circles as the Dems – note the revolving door with MSNBC – least understand. 

That’s why they have been too quick to dismiss Trump voters as yahoos, racists, xenophobes and deplorables. And it’s why MAGA voters have been willing to overlook Jan. 6, indictments and even his softening stance on abortion. Trump has the right enemies.

Ross Douthat analyzes the hypothetical Harris victory, saying that the menu of liberal orthodoxy – what Ezra Klein has called the ‘everything bagel’ spirit – has become the most powerful ideology in America:

‘You can wander from an Ivy League faculty lounge to a corporate human resources department to a Hollywood gathering to a magazine editorial meeting and feel as though you inhabit a single-party state.’

The vice president mostly followed ‘a Marie Kondo strategy, applying the life-changing magic of tidying up to the Democratic platform. She didn’t offer a comprehensive moderate agenda or seek out a Sister Souljah confrontation with some left-wing interest group. Instead she offered a form of progressive minimalism…

‘Her convention speech was especially Kondo-ist: Short, sparse, and nonspecific about virtually everything except restoring Roe v. Wade, protecting middle-class entitlements and keeping Trump out of the Oval Office. The interest groups got oblique gestures, not shout-outs and promises.’

And then there was the media strategy – a grand total of one interview, with CNN – and the dropping of past left-wing positions that frustrated Republicans as well.

So how did she win? By liberating her party from laundry-list liberalism. 

‘When being a Democrat just means being pro-choice and anti-Trump, it’s a lot more relaxing and, yes, joyful,’ Douthat says. And Trump supporters ‘complained that he was too undisciplined — which is to say, too much himself — to drive a consistent anti-Harris message.’

Both columnists rely on assumptions that may or may not happen.

Which is why the 2024 contest remains impossible to forecast.

Strip everything else away and you have Trump outperforming his polling and the make-or-break debate.

Most debates don’t live up to the advance hype. This one really could decide who gets to run as the ‘change’ candidate – a former president or incumbent veep – and moves into the Oval Office.

Former President Donald Trump said during a Fox News town hall in Pennsylvania Wednesday evening that the U.S. is heading towards ‘World War III territory’ as wars abroad rage under the Biden-Harris administration. 

‘We’re heading into World War III territory, and because of the power of weapons, nuclear weapons in particular, but other weapons also, and I know the weapons better than anybody because I’m the one that bought them,’ Trump said from the New Holland Arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

The town hall, which was moderated by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, fielded questions from voters in the key battleground state, which will likely help determine the outcome of the election come Nov. 5. 

‘We rebuilt our entire military. We upgraded our entire program. And, you know, the one program I hated to upgrade, hated it, was the nuclear program. And I understand it maybe better than anybody. My uncle was at MIT, a professor, the longest serving professor in the history of MIT. Very smart guy. We have a smart family. It’s nice to have a smart family, but I knew, I understood, nuclear for a long time. The power of nuclear weapons. You need a president that’s not going to be taking you into war.’

‘We won’t have World War III when I’m elected. But with these clowns that you have in there now, you’re going to end up having World War III, and it’s going to be a war …  like no other.’ 

War broke out in Ukraine in 2022, when Russia invaded the nation. Another war broke out in the Middle East last October, when Hamas terrorists launched attacks on Israel. 

Trump doubled down in the town hall that if he were in the Oval Office, the world would not be facing wars or unrest. 

‘We have things going on in the world right now with Israel and with the Middle East. … It’s blowing up. We have Ukraine and Russia. That would never happen. That would have never happened. October 7th would have never happened if I were the president. It would have never happened. And everybody knows it. Iran was broke. They didn’t have the money for Hamas and for Hezbollah. They didn’t have the money for anybody. They wanted to get by, and we would have made a fair deal with them,’ he said.

Trump traveled to the key battleground state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday for the town hall less than one week before he will again head to the Keystone State for his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia on Tuesday.