Attorneys for Donald Trump have filed an appeal to change the venue of his upcoming criminal hush money trial in New York and to pause a gag order barring him from discussing likely witnesses or the judge’s family. The appeal, which was filed using a legal mechanism that allows a direct challenge to a court’s actions, aims to move the trial and stay the gag order before jury selection begins. Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the appeal.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg urged presiding Judge Juan Merchan to reject Trump’s latest request for the judge to recuse himself, describing it as a bad faith effort to delay the trial and get around the gag order. Bragg argued that the recusal motion was a last-ditch attempt to postpone the trial and shield Trump from the gag order. Trump’s lawyers had previously argued that the judge’s daughter’s political work at a Democratic consulting firm could bias the judge. However, Bragg stressed that this was mere speculation and not a sufficient basis for recusal.
The expanded gag order on Trump now prohibits him from making statements about the judge’s family members that could interfere with the case, as well as statements about Bragg’s family members. This came after Trump targeted Judge Merchan’s daughter on social media over her political activities, claiming it showed bias. The judge viewed Trump’s attacks as a direct assault on the Rule of Law itself, suggesting that they could discourage people from participating in the case out of fear for their loved ones’ safety.
The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases set to go to trial. His lawyers have tried to dismiss or delay all of the cases while he runs for President against incumbent Joe Biden. However, Judge Merchan has rejected previous recusal requests related to the judge’s daughter’s political activities. Bragg characterized Trump’s latest recusal motion as making identical arguments to the previous ones, with any new points being deemed wholly meritless.
The appeal was filed just a week before jury selection is scheduled to begin in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial, where Trump is charged with concealing a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The appeal aims to change the trial venue and challenge the gag order placed on Trump. The legal battle surrounding the trial has focused on potential bias on the part of Judge Merchan due to his daughter’s political work, but this argument has been consistently rejected as lacking merit. Despite these challenges, the trial is set to proceed as planned.
