A New York judge in former President Donald Trump’s hush money case denied his third request in as many days to delay the start of the trial—meaning Trump’s first criminal trial will likely begin Monday as scheduled.
Former President Donald Trump’s third attempt this week at getting his New York hush money trial ... [+]
Trump’s legal team argued Wednesday the case should be paused while they fight for New York Judge Juan Merchan to recuse himself, saying in an emergency hearing that the trial “can only be done once and it must be done right,” the Associated Press reported.
Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, said they were seeking a stay for multiple reasons, arguing Merchan is operating “under an appearance of impropriety,” Trump can’t invoke presidential immunity and the defense is unable to file motions—which the state’s lawyer said was false—according to a reporter from the New York Daily News.
Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer took less than an hour to deny the request to delay, according to multiple reports.
This was Trump’s third attempt to delay the trial, which will be the first criminal trial of a former president, following an attempt to get a stay while he tries to move the trial out of New York and an attempt to get a stay while he appeals a gag order put in place by Merchan.
“Staying the trial at this point would be incredibly disruptive,” said Steven Wu, chief of appeals at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the AP reported. “The court, the people, witnesses have made extraordinary efforts to make sure this trial can take place on Monday.”
Trump was indicted last March and is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Manhattan prosecutors allege he misidentified a series of payments made to his then-attorney Michael Cohen in 2017 as being for legal services—though the prosecution has argued they were actually reimbursements for payments Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 election about an affair she alleged having with Trump. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels.
Save for another last-ditch effort by Trump and his team to delay the trial, it is set to begin Monday with jury selection and go for about six weeks.