Donald Trump’s legal team has made a third consecutive attempt to postpone the start of his hush money criminal trial, scheduled to commence next Monday. Seeking to have the trial judge, Judge Juan M. Merchan, removed, Trump’s lawyers have asked a New York appeals court to indefinitely halt the case. The team is challenging several recent rulings by Judge Merchan, including his refusal to delay the trial until the Supreme Court rules on an immunity claim raised in another criminal case involving Trump.
In their latest appeal, Trump’s lawyers filed sealed paperwork on Wednesday, requesting the state’s mid-level appeals court to intervene and issue an order preventing the commencement of jury selection as planned. The subject of the court filing was confirmed by an anonymous source familiar with the matter. The appeal was framed as a fresh attempt to sue Judge Merchan under Article 78, a state law that allows judges to be sued over certain judicial decisions. An emergency hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to hear arguments on the matter.
Earlier this week, one appeals court judge rejected Trump’s request to delay the trial while he seeks to move it out of Manhattan. Another judge denied a request, framed as part of a lawsuit against Judge Merchan, to postpone the trial while Trump fights a recently imposed gag order. Trump has also demanded that Judge Merchan step aside from the case, alleging bias and a conflict of interest due to his daughter’s work as the head of a firm whose clients include President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other Democrats. Judge Merchan previously rejected a similar request in August and has yet to rule on Trump’s pending demand. Additionally, the judge has not ruled on another defense delay request, which claims that Trump won’t receive a fair trial due to “prejudicial media coverage.”
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Donald Trump’s legal team’s repeated attempts to postpone the start of his hush money criminal trial is like a person desperately trying to delay the inevitable arrival of a storm. No matter how many times they try to push back the start date, the storm will eventually come, and they will have to face its consequences.