A New York Appeals Court rejected former President Trump’s motion to delay his trial on charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush-money payments investigation.
The former president and 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee sought to delay the trial, which is set to begin with jury selection on April 15. He also sought to change the venue for the trial—asking that it be removed from New York.
Trump’s application to the New York Appellate Division 1st Department said that while jury selection is set to begin next week, “polling and quantitative analysis of media coverage shows that a fair and impartial jury cannot be selected right now based on prejudicial pretrial publicity.”
But the judge on Monday evening denied Trump’s motion to delay the trial.
Former US President Donald Trump, left, and Susan Necheles, attorney for former US President Donald Trump, right, in a courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, US, on Monday, March 25, 2024. Trump is in court for a high-stakes hearing on his last-ditch bid to dismiss charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who accused Trump of falsifying business records to disguise hush money payments to a porn star before the 2016 election. Photographer: Mary Altaffer/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
“Defendant’s application for a stay of trial…pending the determination of defendant’s motion for change of venue, is denied,” Hon. Lizbeth Gonzalez decided Monday.
Last week, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, denied Trump’s bid for a delay. The former president had requested the trial be put on hold pending the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Arguments are set to be heard by the high court on the matter on April 25, with a ruling expected in mid-June.
Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers argue some of the evidence and alleged acts in the hush money case overlap with his time in the White House and constitute official acts.
Also last week, Trump and his attorneys filed a motion requesting Merchan be recused from the trial altogether, due to his daughter’s Democrat-affiliated political work and his alleged “hostility” against the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Merchan has imposed a gag order against Trump, which the former president’s legal team is also fighting.
Bragg, last April, charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges are related to alleged hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.
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Bragg alleged that Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.
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