David Schoen: Judge Merchan Is Incompetent and InsecurePosted on November 25, 2024 David Schoen on Life Liberty and Levin. “I don’t trust Judge Merchan to do the right thing at all. He should have recused himself from day one, had no business sitting on this case, given his daughter’s clear conflict of interest. He decided to keep it and I think for publicity purposes. I’ve appeared before him, I find him to be incompetent and insecure, but with an ego. So those are a bad combination of factors.”