Trump’s last-ditch bid to get a change of trial venue for the “hush money trial” in Manhattan (due to Judge Merchan and biased New Yorkers) was flatly rejected by the appeals court. From CNBC:
A New York appeals court judge on Monday swiftly rejected a last-ditch bid by Donald Trump to delay his upcoming criminal hush money trial while he seeks to move the case to another court.
Judge Lizbeth Gonzalez denied Trump’s request on the same day his attorneys filed it, and less than two hours after a hearing where his attorneys argued that the former president cannot get a fair jury in New York, NBC News reported.
I will note that the New York Times reports that Gonzalez’s ruling was issued 45 minutes after the hearing ended, not two hours as reported by CNBC.
The DA’s argument’s clearly won the day:
Steven Wu, arguing for the D.A., countered that the judge should deny Trump’s eleventh-hour request. The news about Trump’s legal struggles is being read worldwide, and Manhattan jurors are not uniquely incapable of acting as fair and impartial jurors, Wu said, according to NBC.
Wu added that Trump, who regularly rails against the case on social media and the campaign trail, is responsible for the media frenzy. He cannot drum up a media circus and then use that publicity to seek a change of trial venue, Wu told Gonzalez.
Also today, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Bragg urged Judge Juan Merchan to reject Trump’s latest request for the judge to recuse himself.
Trump is apparently also filing an unusual lawsuit to try to overturn Merchan’s gag order for the trial. Good luck with that. As NYT reports:
Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Trump’s lawyers on Monday had planned to file the action calling on the appeals court to overturn a gag order that Justice Merchan recently imposed on the former president. The order prevents Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and the judge’s own family.
Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump had begun the process of filing the action against Justice Merchan, though the papers were not immediately made public.
An online court docket where Mr. Trump is expected to file the so-called Article 78 action — a special proceeding that comes in the form of a lawsuit and can be used to challenge New York State government agencies and judges — showed that the related paperwork was sealed.
I thought I’d lift up my comment from below. What else can Trump try as he grows ever more desperate to prevent this trial from starting. I heard Glenn Kirschner say recently that perhaps the only desperate move left in his desperation toolbox would be to fire his lawyers for this case, and then ask the judge to give his new lawyers time to prepare for the trial. He’s done this before. But Kirschner said a judge isn’t obligated to delay the trial if Trump were to do this, and could even require the defendant to keep his current attorneys (if I recall correctly). Either way, Kirschner hoped that if Trump tries this move that Merchan doesn’t delay the trial. The courts have to stop letting Trump abuse the judicial system and, quite frankly, make a mockery of it
Ben Meiselas and Karen Friedman Agnifilo at MeidasTouch Network just posted a recap of this ruling, and they talk about the other possible last-ditch moves that an increasingly desperate Trump might try. They also mention the firing of his lawyers as a possibility, and think he might try a desperate appeal to his buddies on the Supreme Court.
Bring on April 15!!
