Court Declines Trump Court Challenge

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An appeals court denied an effort by former President Donald Trump to delay his New York trial linked to alleged payments he made to a former adult actress following a reported brief relationship. The legal motion came as the Trump legal team is attempting to have the gag order against the former president lifted.

The New York Appellate Division 1st Department denied the former president’s effort to have the Stormy Daniels trial delayed.

The Trump legal team argued that “polling and quantitative analysis of media coverage shows that a fair and impartial jury cannot be selected right now based on prejudicial pretrial publicity.”

However, Judge Lizbeth Gonzalez denied the motion. This followed a similar decision by Judge Juan Merchan, who also ruled against the Trump legal team’s effort for a delay in the case.

The trial is expected to start next week, first with jury selection. Following this, the first arguments are expected in April, with a potential ruling in June.

Merchan issued a gag order on the former president, barring him from making certain comments about himself, court officials, jurors and prosecutors.

The former president has attempted to have several restrictions caused by his court cases lifted. A motion to have the charges against him in his Georgia trial related to the aftermath of the 2020 election was denied.

Trump has also rallied a number of Republicans toward him after a large civil penalty was assessed to him over what New York State alleged was fraud. The former president paid a $175 million bond to the state to avoid the seizure of his assets, including New York City’s iconic Trump Building.

Upon paying the significant bond amount, the former president wrote that he had to pay the money “in order to appeal a corrupt decision by a biased, crooked and highly overturned judge. It’s supposed to be the other way around – you appeal before you pay.”