- Trump hoped to delay his first criminal trial by arguing he needed time to fight his gag order.
- A Manhattan appeals judge denied his request, leaving the April 15 trial date in place.
- Trump continues to appeal his gag order, which prohibits statements about witnesses, jurors and others.
Donald Trump on Monday lost his tenth attempt to delay his secret trial – this time because of his gag order.
Trump had hoped to delay his first criminal trial long enough to appeal the gag order.
Associate Justice Cynthia Kern, an appeals judge in Manhattan, rejected the delay bid after brief arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys Monday morning.
Kern’s written ruling did not give a reason for the refusal, allowing his trial to continue on April 15.
His decision also allows Trump to continue to appeal his silence order, which his lawyers say causes “continued and irreparable harm” to both the Republican presidential candidate and voters.
Prosecutors filed charges April 3 against what they called “the defendant’s eighth request to adjourn the commencement of this case.”
This effort, again decided by the judge, aims to obtain a delay due to “pre-trial publicity”.
Since then, Trump has filed two more requests for postponements, both of which were rejected this week by appeals judges in Manhattan, bringing his total to ten attempts to push back the trial date.
On Monday, Trump lost an emergency bid to move the trial out of Manhattan. This appeal effort may continue — motions for change of venue from the parties are expected by April 22 — but it will not impact the April 15 trial date.
Trump’s silence order, the focus of Monday’s hearing, prohibits him from interfering with the trial by making statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors and members of District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s family and State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Trump’s public statements about the case are simply “intemperate and crude,” defense attorney Emil Bove told the judge, citing language from last year’s appeals court ruling in Trump’s election interference case in Washington.
Prosecutors “do not allege that any of President Trump’s statements amount to incitement” or cause a clear and present danger to others, Bove argued.
Bove also repeated previous defense arguments, saying the gag order harms not only Trump, but also the public, who have a right to hear the former president’s unfiltered opinions about key witnesses.
In particular, the public is entitled to hear Trump denounce the Democratic leanings of the trial judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, a political consultant who worked for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, he said.
The attacks on Merchan are part of a motion to recuse the judge and should be fair game, Bove argued.
Bragg’s lead appellate lawyer, Stephen Wu, countered Monday that Trump’s statements would “predictably lead to a barrage of attacks” from the former president’s supporters.
“It has already been difficult to find witnesses in our case to come and testify, including witnesses who do nothing other than testify about company record-keeping,” Wu said, apparently referring to employees current or former members of the Trump Organization.
“They know what their name can lead to in the press,” Wu told the appeals judge.
With only one postponement offer remaining to be decided, chances remain good that the trial will remain ongoing for jury selection to begin on April 15.
Prosecutors say Trump falsified 34 business documents to hide a secret $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
They claim the payment, which silenced Daniels just 11 days before the 2016 election, violated tax and campaign finance laws.
Falsifying business records is generally a misdemeanor under New York law, but the charge rises to a felony if the falsifications were committed to conceal an underlying crime.
Trump has denied falsifying the documents and repeatedly insisted he did not have sex with Daniels.
This is a revolutionary story; please check back for developments.
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