An appeals court judge rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to pause his criminal trial in Manhattan and move it to a different location. Trump has been trying to delay the trial, which is the first prosecution of a former U.S. president, for weeks. He also indicated that he planned to file a lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case to overturn a recently imposed gag order. However, these tactics are unlikely to succeed so close to trial. The judge in the case rejected Trump’s motion for a change of venue, noting that Manhattan jurors could set aside their biases and be fair and impartial.
The appeals court may act quickly on Trump’s action against the judge overseeing the case. Trump is aiming to push all four of his criminal cases past Election Day, with hopes that if he wins the race, the cases will grind to a halt. In the Manhattan case, he is charged with 34 felonies stemming from a hush-money deal with a porn star. Trump allowed his company to falsify its business records to conceal the payment. Separate from the trial, Trump is calling on the judge to recuse himself from the case due to a conflict of interest related to his daughter’s position at a Democratic consulting firm.
Trump’s legal actions against judges are unusual, but this is not his first attempt to use that tactic to delay a trial. Last year, he sued the New York judge presiding over his civil fraud trial, which was ultimately rejected by the appeals court. In response to Trump’s most recent recusal request, prosecutors for the Manhattan district attorney’s office characterized it as repeating arguments made in a previous motion and based on a “daisy chain of innuendos.” The judge overseeing the case is likely to reject the recusal request once again.
The former president’s lawyers argued that Manhattan jurors were uniquely ill-suited to hear the case due to negative coverage about Trump. However, a lawyer for the district attorney’s office countered that most Manhattan residents believed they could set aside their biases and be fair and impartial. Justice Gonzalez ultimately sided with the district attorney’s office. The appeals court is expected to rule quickly on Trump’s lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case, potentially setting up a full panel to consider the request.
Mr. Trump’s unorthodox move, essentially an appeal in the form of a lawsuit, may not succeed, particularly so close to the trial. His efforts to stop the Manhattan case come as he is separately calling for the judge overseeing the case to recuse himself. This latest legal maneuvering is part of Trump’s ongoing efforts to delay his criminal cases. If Trump wins the presidential race, the cases are likely to be put on hold. The judge handling the case is expected to rule on the recusal request in the coming days, following Trump’s repeated attacks on the judge’s family on social media.
