Former President Donald Trump’s emergency request to delay his impending “hush money” trial in New York has been denied by an appellate judge on Monday. The development comes as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeks to prosecute him over alleged payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump’s attorneys are also requesting a change of venue, arguing that it would not be possible to assemble an impartial jury due to the high level of publicity the case has received.
The ruling by Justice Lizbeth González of the state Appellate Division came after attorneys for the former president argued the trial needed to be halted because “an impartial jury cannot be selected right now based on prejudicial pretrial publicity.” The judge rejected the request in a one-line ruling late Monday afternoon with no explanation.
Trump’s attorneys had filed the eleventh-hour motion in an attempt to delay a trial that centers on charges that Trump falsified business records related to hush-money payments. The long-shot legal maneuver came exactly one week before the first criminal trial of a former president is scheduled to start.
The judge’s ruling only impacts Trump’s request for a delay, not his underlying change of venue motion. Trump’s attorneys are also fighting the partial gag order that Judge Juan Merchan handed down against him last month, which the appeals court is expected to hear Tuesday.
District Attorney Steven Wu responded by arguing that Trump’s case is receiving publicity all across the globe, largely because of the former president’s public comments about the trial.
Last week, Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the hush money trial, rejected Trump’s request to delay the trial, prompting the former president’s legal team to appeal the ruling. His attorneys are also suing to compel Merchan to recuse himself from the case.
Last Monday, Trump’s legal team made its second attempt to push for Judge Juan Merchan’s recusal from the upcoming trial. They cited conflicts arising from his daughter’s role as president of Authentic Campaigns, a firm with Democratic clients like Rep. Adam Schiff and the Senate Majority PAC. The letter, made public on Tuesday, emphasized concerns about potential bias affecting Merchan’s conduct, including recent actions such as a gag order against Trump and statements that “appear to be extrajudicial” made by Merchan in the media.
On Monday, court records revealed that Trump was initiating legal action against Judge Juan M. Merchan, although the specific details of the filing were not immediately disclosed to the public. The online court docket, where Trump is anticipated to submit the Article 78 action — a special procedure commonly employed to challenge New York state government entities and judges —indicated that the documents had been sealed. This is not the first time Trump has sued a judge, filing a case last year against the New York judge overseeing his civil fraud trial, but the appeals court did not uphold his challenge.
Sources familiar with the matter indicated that Trump’s legal team planned to file the action on Monday, seeking intervention from an appeals court to delay the trial and challenge a recent gag order imposed by Merchan, which restricts Mr. Trump from making disparaging comments about witnesses, prosecutors, and the judge’s family.
Trump’s lawyers had also requested that the trial be moved to Staten Island, the sole New York City borough that the former president won in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Judge Merchan had previously ruled that the former president’s request to change venues was untimely.
