President Trump attempted twice this week to delay his trial while challenging a gag order and seeking a venue change. However, an appeals court judge rejected his latest attempt to delay the start of his criminal trial in New York, marking the third failed attempt this week.
Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer denied President Trump’s request for a stay of proceedings on April 10, citing the alleged “unconstitutional effects” of recent rulings by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan that the former president’s attorneys claim prevent him from receiving a fair trial.
Justice Merchan imposed a gag order on President Trump on March 26, expanding it on April 1 to prevent the former president from making comments about the judge’s and the district attorney’s family members. This came after President Trump accused Justice Merchan of bias and corruption, later alleging that Justice Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a partisan interest in the case.
During a hearing, Trump attorney Emil Bove argued for a trial delay until Justice Merchan rules on the Trump legal team’s request for his recusal. However, Steven Wu, a lawyer for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, stated that the trial should proceed without delay.
The trial, set to begin on April 15, will be the first criminal trial of a former president. President Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a “hush money” payment scheme during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
A panel of appellate judges will consider President Trump’s appeals, but emergency hearings on April 8, 9, and 10 ruled that pending appeals will not postpone the trial. The rejection on April 8 was regarding a change of venue request, and the ruling on April 9 was related to the gag order.
President Trump was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with 34 counts of falsifying business records, alleging a scheme to influence the 2016 election with payments to bury unfavorable news coverage. President Trump has denied the allegations.
On April 10, President Trump shared a photograph on social media of a document bearing an official statement from Stormy Daniels, denying the alleged affair.
The trial, initially scheduled for March 25, was delayed until mid-April due to a dispute over the large amount of discovery materials. The Epoch Times has reached out to President Trump’s attorney for comment on the latest ruling.
Catherine Yang and Reuters contributed to this report.
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