Former President Donald Trump's attorneys are once again asking New York Judge Juan Merchan to recuse himself from any further proceedings in the criminal falsification of business records and hush money case.

This time, the basis of the recusal request is the professional relationship between Merchan's political activist daughter and Trump's newly emerged political rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, according to The New York Times.

Trump's attorneys also took issue with the continuation, albeit in a more limited form, of the gag order previously imposed by the judge that restricts what the former president can say about certain individuals involved with and connected to the case.

Judge should recuse over daughter's political connections to Harris

Former President Trump's lead attorneys in the New York criminal case, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, sent a pre-motion letter to Judge Merchan on Wednesday that said, "In light of the long-standing and extremely beneficial working relationship between Your Honor’s daughter and Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently became the presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democrat Party, we respectfully submit this pre-motion letter to renew our request that the Court recuse itself."

"Your Honor’s daughter has a long-standing relationship with Harris, including work for political campaigns. She has obtained -- and stands to obtain in the future -- extensive financial, professional, and personal benefits from her relationship with Harris," the letter stated.

Indeed, The Times acknowledged that Merchan's daughter, Loren Merchan, is a top executive at a Democrat-aligned political advertising and consultancy firm that has boasted of its work with Harris, both for her failed 2020 campaign and with the Biden-Harris administration, among several other leading Democratic politicians and leftist advocacy groups.

The letter highlighted public examples of Loren Merchan's evident anti-Trump bias, and the attorneys wrote, "Your Honor’s daughter is a part owner and executive at Authentic Campaigns, Inc., which (1) was the top vendor for Harris’s prior presidential campaign, based on disbursements of nearly $5
million; (2) touted its subsequent work for the Biden-Harris campaign in connection with at least the 2020 election; and (3) made tens of millions of dollars by helping other politicians disseminate political advertisements based on this case."

Gag order preventing Trump from exercising his protected political speech

The letter from Blanche and Bove also took issue with the continued gag order, which they asserted "prevents President Trump from engaging in Constitutionally protected speech by drawing attention to the obvious connection between the Biden Administration and the prosecution team."

"No candidate for office, much less a Presidential candidate, has ever faced such an insidious prior restraint," they observed. "As there is no threat to the integrity of the remaining proceedings from President Trump’s protected political advocacy, the bias reflected in the Court’s handling of this issue is manifest."

As to the connections between Harris and Merchan's daughter, the attorneys wrote, "The Court’s unjust and unconstitutional Gag Order continues to restrict President Trump’s ability to respond to Harris and address these topics with the American people."

"Regardless of intent, decisions by Your Honor on the pending Presidential immunity motion and at any sentencing would benefit not only Harris but also the professional aspirations and financial status of Your Honor’s daughter and Authentic -- all in a manner consistent with the prohibited political contributions by Your Honor that led to a caution from the Commission on Judicial Conduct," the letter continued.

According to The Hill, Judge Merchan -- who is set to rule on Trump's immunity claims on September 6 and has scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 18 -- was previously given a warning by the commission about donations totaling $35 that the judge gave to President Biden's 2020 campaign and two anti-Trump progressive groups.

Merchan is a "highly conflicted judge"that should be "immediately recused"

The Hill observed that Trump had previously and unsuccessfully asked Judge Merchan to recuse himself from the case before the trial even began, and the former president's critiques about the overt political activism and bias of his daughter are what led, in part, to the imposition of the restrictive gag order.

Given everything that has occurred in the case thus far, it seems unlikely that the judge will grant this request, but Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung insisted in a statement to the outlet that Merchan is "a highly conflicted judge who should be immediately recused."