Donald Trump on Monday filed an 11th-hour bid to change the venue of his Manhattan “hush money” trial and pause a gag order barring him from publicly ripping witnesses and the judge’s family.
Attorneys for the former president made the last-ditch effort at a New York appeals court a week before the criminal trial — in which Trump is accused of illegally covering up payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels — is set to start with jury selection next week.
Trump, 77, filed what’s called an “Article 78 action,” a special legal maneuver that parties can use to challenge a state agency or judge’s order or ruling, court records show.
In separate appeals, Trump’s lawyers are aiming to win a stay of the gag order and, more impactfully, to move the trial out of Manhattan — which would delay it, a source familiar with the matter told The Post.
New York’s Appellate Division, First Department is expected to hold a hearing Monday afternoon.
The delay bid is considered a long shot, a source said.
Trump’s team tried a similar last-minute delay tactic in his civil fraud trial, but was rebuffed.
Their attempts to scuttle a gag order in that case were successful in the short term, but eventually rebuffed as well.
Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office — which is prosecuting the “hush money” case — accused Trump in a Friday filing of attempting to delay the trial by making another bid for Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to recuse himself.
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Prosecutors say Trump’s request — which has already been rejected — attempted an “end-run” on the gag order by continuing to claim Merchan has a conflict-of-interest because of his daughter’s work for Democrats at a political consulting firm.
“The motion is yet another last-ditch attempt to address [Trump’s] real objective, which is … to delay this proceeding indefinitely,” prosecutors wrote.