April 8 (UPI) — A New York state appellate court judge on Monday denied a bid by former President Donald Trump to delay the start of his trial over alleged hush-money payments made to an adult film actress.
Justice Lizbeth González denied the request following an emergency hearing in which Trump’s attorneys sought the delay as they pursue a motion for a change of venue out of Manhattan, where they contend Trump cannot get a fair trial.
With the ruling, jury selection in the trial remains on track to begin in one week.
During the hearing, Trump lawyer Emil Bove pointed to research claiming to show that pretrial publicity has made it impossible for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to get a fair trial in heavily Democratic Manhattan, CNN reported.
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Chief of Appeals Steven Wu, however, countered that although potential jurors may know about the case, that fact alone “is not an indication of bias.”
“This is the defendant coming into this argument with unclean hands, because the publicity in large part is his own,” he said.
The former president’s lawyers also signaled they would appeal a gag order placed on him by trial Judge Juan Merchan, but that issue was not addressed by Gonzalez’s ruling.
Merchan issued the gag order on Trump to block him from making threats against witnesses, prosecutors and others involved in the trial. Last week he expanded the order to include threats against members of his family and the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
It was expanded after Trump attacked Merchan and his daughter on social media.
A year ago, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to falsifying records and carrying out multiple hush-money schemes to hide an affair he had with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It was the first of four criminal indictments levied against the former president.
Trump, who is running for president as the Republican nominee, has employed efforts to delay each of those trials. His attorneys argue that putting him on trial before the November election is an attempt at election interference.
