Trump’s judge, who sought to suppress the verdict, alerted lawyers to a Facebook comment claiming Trump would be sentenced 24 hours before he was sentenced. The commenter describes himself as a “professional s—poster.”

• A self-described “professional” troll wrote that his cousin, a juror in Trump’s bribery trial, predicted his conviction.

• The Facebook post was the subject of a letter a judge sent to Trump’s prosecutors and lawyers.

• The former prosecutor told the BI agency that although this would not be the basis for initiating a new trial, this entry may raise doubts.

About 24 hours before a Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump as the first former president ever to be convicted as a felon, a person going by the pseudonym “Michael Anderson” posted a little-noticed comment on Facebook.

“Thank you for your fight against MAGA lunatics!” – he wrote in a comment to an unrelated post on the official website of the New York State Unified Court System.

“My cousin is a juror in Trump’s criminal case and she says he’s going to be convicted tomorrow. Thank you NY courts!!!! “

In a letter sent Friday afternoon, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, notified prosecutors and Trump’s defense lawyers of the comment.

“Today, the Court became aware of a comment posted on the Unified Court System public Facebook page to which I now wish to draw your attention,” Merchan wrote.

However, it is not certain whether the comment is authentic.

Anderson — if that’s his real name — claims he’s a troll.

Business Insider located the comment on Facebook, which was time-stamped 4:39 p.m. on May 29, the day before the jury’s verdict. It was posted in response to an unrelated Facebook post about a New York court system program to promote diversity.

“Now we are married ,” he wrote in response to another Facebook comment criticizing his alleged cousin.

On his Facebook page, Anderson describes himself as “Transabled and a professional shitposter.” His profile picture is a photo that suggests his account is restricted. His cover photo reads, “Facebook: Wasting People’s Lives Since 2004.”

Few posts are publicly visible on Anderson’s page. What are visible are cooking and comedy videos from Reels, a product of Facebook owner Meta that aims to emulate TikTok videos.

“The court notified the parties as soon as it became aware of this online content,” Al Baker, a spokesman for the New York State Unified Court System, told Business Insider, declining further comment on the incident.

Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, as well as representatives from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Anderson did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment via Facebook, but in a public post added to his profile shortly after BI contacted him, he wrote, “Relax, I’m a professional shitposter,” adding a laughing emoji and providing the Wikipedia definition of shitposting.

While it is unclear how relevant the Facebook post will be to Trump’s sentencing proceedings, it could complicate matters.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told BI that the social media post, while clearly trolling, could raise questions about whether outside influences entered the jury room, one of the few situations in which the defense can use jury deliberations as a basis for an appeal for retrial.

However, he said the burden on a new trial was heavy and would require the defense to show that outside influence prejudiced the jury enough that the outcome could have been different without being exposed to it.

“A stray social media comment is not enough for a new trial,” Rahmani said. “But if the defense can get a statement from a juror that they discussed the case with family members, Judge Merchan will hold an evidentiary hearing to examine the juror and determine whether there was undue influence and bias. I don’t think a statement from a family member is enough unless it’s supported by a juror’s oath.”

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