By Francisco Alvarado, FloridaBulldog.org
For nearly a decade, the nasty paternity case between Jason Miller, the Washington, D.C. lobbyist and spokesman for Donald Trump’s three presidential campaigns, and his former lover, Trump’s 2016 campaign advisor, has been an endless embarrassment for the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County.
Nine judges and three general magistrates have either recused or disqualified themselves from presiding over the case that pits Miller against Miami’s Arlene “AJ” Delgado, including some who admitted they were biased against Delgado. The case has also made brief stops in Monroe and Broward County courts where judges in both jurisdictions washed their hands of it. Spencer Multack, the ninth family court judge who presided over Miller vs. Delgado since 2021, bailed on the case in February after Miller threatened his career aspirations on social media.
Recently, it seemed that Ariana Fajardo Orshan, Miami-Dade’s chief judge who served as Trump’s U.S. Attorney in South Florida during his first term, would do the right thing by letting another judicial circuit take over the case to avoid further turmoil. But it now appears she buckled under pressure from Miller’s lawyer to keep the case in Miami-Dade family court – making it look like Delgado’s suspicions that the 11th Judicial Circuit is biased against her are true, emails obtained by Florida Bulldog show.
Meanwhile, the Trump 2016 campaign, a legal target of Delgado, is washing its hands of Miller and Delgado settling New York federal and state sexual discrimination lawsuits she filed against the political action committee and former Trump staffers Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer.
“The parties have agreed to amicably resolve their disputes and will have no further comment on the matter,” Delgado said in a statement to Florida Bulldog.
For those keeping score, Delgado still has pending a civil sexual assault lawsuit in New York against Miller.
The ex-lovers’ saga took a wild turn four months ago when Jason Miller attacked Multack online. In a Feb. 1 X post, Miller wrote that he would “be activating EVERYONE I know and EVERY resource I have to stop” Multack from securing a nomination to an open seat on the Third District Court of Appeals. Two weeks later, after Multack recused himself within hours of Miller’s post, Orshan sought to move the case to another jurisdiction.
On Feb. 17, Pat Gladson, general counsel for the 11th Judicial Circuit, made the reassignment request on behalf of Orshan. “Due to the highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit it appears that the proper administration of justice requires that a judge in another circuit be appointed to preside over the above-captioned case,” Gladson wrote to Della White, a judicial assistant in the office of Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz.
Yet a month later, Orshan and Gladson reversed course without offering an explanation. In a March 13 email, Gladson informed White that Miller vs. Delgado was being reassigned to Miami-Dade family court judge Angelica Zayas. Between Feb. 17 and March 13, there are no other emails between Gladson and White.
JUDICIAL NORMS BROKEN
The 11th Judicial Circuit’s own policy allows assigning cases to other jurisdictions when three or more judges have recused from a case because it is difficult for “litigants to receive fresh and fair treatment once a case has bounced around,” Delgado said in her statement to Florida Bulldog. A Harvard educated lawyer, Delgado is representing herself in the paternity case, which will determine how much child support Miller pays for their eight-year-old son, William.
“The 11th Circuit acknowledged, in writing, that an outside assignment was necessary only to then secretly pull the request because Trump advisor Miller demanded the case remain here,” Delgado said. “My innocent son and I are entitled to have this case adjudicated by a neutral judge, untainted by years of chatter, gossip, and political-favor-currying among this bench. We are being denied that basic right.”
Through Miami-Dade courts spokesperson Eunice Sigler, Orshan and Gladson declined to answer questions concerning the abrupt about-face. “Judicial ethics cannon” prohibits them from commenting on pending cases, Sigler said.
Court records show that Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts took over the case after Multack recused himself. Rodriguez-Fonts’ first official act was to stay proceedings when Delgado filed a motion on Feb. 11 requesting that Orshan assign the case to another circuit. Orshan did not rule on Delgado’s request but had Gladson reach out to White.
On Feb. 18, Miller’s attorney Sandy Fox filed a motion objecting to reassigning the case to another jurisdiction, accusing her of seeking to prolong the legal war for as long as possible.
“The mother has engaged in egregious conduct directed towards the father, the father’s counsel and the judiciary from inception of this matter through the present date,” Fox wrote. “If the mother is granted the relief she is requesting there is no doubt that she will continue to move to disqualify every circuit judge in each and every county as a leopard does not change their spots.”
Miller’s motion apparently convinced Orshan to back off the reassignment request, but in doing so the chief judge skirted judicial circuit norms, Delgado said. Rodriguez-Fonts recused himself from the case on March 16, three days after Gladson emailed White that Zayas was being assigned to Miller vs. Delgado. On March 17, Orshan filed an order that due to the case’s “special circumstances,” she was assigning it to Zayas, court records show.
Typically, reassignments are done on a random basis and the chief judge does not have advance knowledge of a recusal, Delgado said. On April 1, she sent a letter to Orshan and Gladson questioning why the chief judge reversed her decision to seek a reassignment and how the general counsel knew that the case would be assigned to Zayas before Rodriguez Fonts recused himself. In her correspondence, Delgado included an image of Orshan and Eric Trump, the president’s son, smiling together.
“Chief Judge Orshan then seemingly shoved aside the judge the system had blindly assigned to replace him with a judge she hand-selected,” Delgado told Florida Bulldog. “This is contrary to the policy that assignments must be blind. There is no procedure, policy, laws, or norms that apply in my case, even though it is a case involving a child.”
Orshan and Gladson did not respond to Delgado. Instead, Zayas issued an order prohibiting Delgado and Miller’s lawyer from sending email communications to any judicial officers.
“It is inappropriate to present any legal argument, objection, request for relief, or personal opinions regarding the merits of any motion, pleading, or procedural action in any communication with judicial staff,” Zayas wrote. “All communications to judicial staff shall be limited to the coordination of dates and times for requested hearings.”
DELGADO AND 2016 TRUMP CAMPAIGN SETTLE
Meanwhile, Delgado is calling a truce with the 2016 Trump campaign committee and former Trump first term White House staffers Rence Priebus and Sean Spicer. This week, Delgado dismissed federal and state sexual harassment lawsuits with prejudice against the trio, which means she cannot refile her complaints against them, court records show. Her lawyers had been discussing a settlement with the Trump campaign’s legal team since December.
Delgado, who has become a Never Trumper Republican, alleged in the New York federal complaint that she was stripped of her responsibilities and frozen out of a White House job after she got pregnant by Miller. In her federal complaint in New York, Delgado accused Spicer and Priebus, who respectively served as press secretary and chief of staff during Trump’s first term, of discriminating against her when she informed them about her pregnancy by stripping her of her job responsibilities and duties.
The case was set for trial this summer and was heating up. The Trump 2016 campaign and the other defendants had submitted transcripts of Trump world figures, including Eric Trump, denying they had witnessed any sexual harassment. The defense lawyers, led by Jeffrey Gavenman, also sought to block Delgado’s lawyers from calling other Trump allies-turned-enemies, Omarosa Manigault Newman and Stephanie Grisham, to the stand.
Since 2024, Gavenman’s Bethesda, MD-based law firm Schulman Bhattacharya has been paid roughly $1million in legal fees by the Trump 2016 campaign. In January, the firm was acquired by Hughes Hubbard & Reed. Gavenman did not respond to emails requesting comment.
One of Delgado’s attorneys, Tim Hyland, successfully negotiated a 2024 settlement on behalf Carlton Huffman, who had sued Conservative Political Action Conference Chairman Matt Schlapp for sexual assault. Hyland did not respond to emails requesting comment.
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