made in 2020 before judge merchan had either the trump organization case assigned to him or obviously this case, but it is troubling optics, i think, for any judge to have made a political contribution, and then to have a party who is either the beneficiary or not the beneficiary of that political contribution before that judge in court now, it was a trivial amount of money and this is a trial level judge. the judge in this case is not the ultimate trier of fact, the jury is, but the judge does call some balls and strikes during the course of the trial, and if there's a conviction, the judge is responsible for sentencing. that is all subject to review on appeal however, it is probably not the best course of action for a judge to have made political contributions while a sitting judge with the possibility that such cases can arise before him. earlier this week, "the new york times" maggie haberman