A request made by former President Donald Trump to delay his hush-money criminal trial, scheduled for April 15th, has been rejected by a judge in a New York appeals court. Despite his efforts to have the case moved out of Manhattan, the trial will proceed as planned.
The decision was made on Monday, just one week before the scheduled start of jury selection.
During an emergency hearing, Trump’s lawyers made the argument that the trial should be postponed. They are seeking a change of venue to move it out of heavily Democratic Manhattan.
According to a report by the New York Times, former President Trump was prepared to take legal action against the judge overseeing his hush-money case in New York. This move, which occurred a week before the trial was set to begin, is seen as another attempt by Trump to postpone the legal proceedings against him.
According to court records and information from two unnamed sources, the intention behind filing sealed documents is to postpone the trial and contest the judge’s imposed gag order.
According to the paper, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump’s unorthodox move, which takes the form of a lawsuit, will be successful, especially considering how close it is to the trial.
Trump has entered a plea of not guilty to the 34 criminal charges he faces in relation to the hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who alleged having an affair with him.
Juan Merchan, the judge in the case, has been the target of repeated attacks by him. These attacks have extended not only to the judge himself but also to members of his family, with allegations of political bias.
The trial, which is scheduled to take place in Manhattan next Monday, marks a historic moment as it will be the first criminal trial involving a former US president.
The Times reported that Trump was planning to request an appeals court to relocate the trial from Manhattan, his home borough before he moved to Florida after his presidency. This request was made due to the fact that Manhattan is known to be a heavily Democratic area.
It was also considered unlikely that the gambit would succeed.
According to The Times, the lawsuit will take the form of an Article 78 action, which falls under the jurisdiction of New York laws. This legal action provides a means to challenge state agencies and judges.
Donald Trump is currently facing a total of 54 criminal charges, with 40 of them being in Florida. These charges pertain to his alleged retention of classified information after leaving office. In addition, there are 14 charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Out of these, 10 charges are in Georgia, while the remaining four are in Washington DC.
Trump denies any wrongdoing and asserts that he is being politically persecuted. He is making efforts to postpone all ongoing legal cases against him until after the presidential election in November.
If he manages to defeat Joe Biden and make a comeback to the White House, he would have the power to ensure the dismissal of federal charges related to the classified information case and the four charges of election subversion. However, it would be more challenging for him to handle the state charges.
Last week, in the New York hush-money case, Merchan denied an attempt to delay the trial until the US Supreme Court rules on Trump’s claim of immunity regarding any act committed in office, which was lodged in his federal election subversion case.
Merchan has also declined one request to recuse himself and is widely expected to reject another.
