Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is stepping up her attacks on New York judge Juan Merchan, the jurist overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, with a formal ethics complaint alleging a conflict of interest. Stefanik, a close Trump ally and the chair of the House Republican Conference, has made public calls for Merchan to recuse himself from the case, in which Trump stands accused of falsifying business records to conceal hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. In a statement to Axios, Stefanik said that “Acting Judge [J…