Trump-appointed judge who donated to campaign refuses to recuse himself from dossier matter

[MelissaB]

Trump-appointed judge who donated to campaign refuses to recuse himself from dossier matter

A Trump-appointed federal judge who donated to the Trump campaign and worked on his presidential transition team has rejected requests to recuse himself from overseeing a legal battle involving Fusion GPS, the research firm that commissioned the so-called “dossier” of unverified intelligence that contains claims about Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, who sits on the bench in Washington, D.C., made two donations to Trump’s presidential campaign totaling $1000 in October 2016 – both coming within three weeks of Election Day, documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show.

“Fusion’s argument that I should look beyond the traditional grounds of disqualification to consider President Trump’s alleged political interests proves too much,” McFadden wrote in an opinion. “Such an argument would lead to the disqualification of numerous judges appointed by the sitting president on a wide range of cases.”

Attorneys for Fusion GPS were not immediately available for comment to ABC News about McFadden’s decision.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-appointed-judge-donated-campaign-refuses-recuse-dossier/story?id=53273577

[Squinch]

1. This is one of the biggest dangers of the administration of the republican president.