The judge overseeing Trump’s hush money trial flagged posts on the court’s webpage claiming to have been aware of the ruling before it was handed down.

CNN
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The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial in New York on Friday told the former president’s legal team and prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that a person claiming to be a juror’s cousin posted a comment on the New York State Unified Court System’s public Facebook page last week saying Trump would be found guilty.

“My cousin is on the jury and says Trump will be found guilty. Thank you all for your help!!!!” the comment read.

It’s unclear whether the post is credible; no evidence has been presented to support the allegations, and the juror’s identity remains anonymous. A search of the poster’s Facebook page reveals that he describes himself as a “professional shitposter,” among other things.

CNN has attempted to contact the poster.

Judge Juan Merchan said in a letter that the court learned about the post on Friday, about a week ago, in response to a routine court notice on May 29 about an unrelated matter. The judge did not require the parties to take further action. The post is no longer available on the court’s Facebook page.

“The court notified the parties accordingly once it learned of this online content,” court spokesman Al Baker said.

Ellie Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst and former state and federal prosecutor, said Judge Marchan notified the legal team as a precaution, but that the judge’s notice does not have an immediate impact on the case.

“The judge is taking special care to inform the parties of any information that may be the basis for a claim, but there is a long way to go before this will have any impact on the litigation,” Honig said. “First the judge will have to see whether this is true and, if so, whether there is any legal remedy that is required.”

Even if that turns out to be true, it wouldn’t automatically be grounds for an annulment lawsuit, Honig said.

The 12-person New York jury began deliberations on May 29. They sent two questions to the judge at the end of court that day: one asking that portions of the testimony of two key witnesses, David Pecker and Michael Cohen, be read aloud, and the other asking that they rehearse some of the judge’s instructions to the jury.

The required testimony and instructions were read to them the following morning, and a few hours later, just after 4:30 p.m., the jury returned its verdict.