- Trump is due to appear in court on Monday when jury selection begins for his hush money trial
- His lawyers appealed on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to delay the start
- Trump said the case had been discredited. “It’s a terrible thing,” he said
Lawyers for Donald Trump made a last-ditch effort on Wednesday to delay the start of his hush-money trial on Monday and filed another appeal.
It marks the latest round in a blitz to stop the first of four criminal trials starting next week.
Twice this week, New York appeals courts rejected other attempts to delay the case.
The latest filing is a petition against Judge Juan Merchan, challenging his decision not to recuse himself from the case, as well as his refusal to hear arguments on presidential immunity, according to ABC news.
The former president will appear in court in New York on Monday when jury selection is set to begin in his business fraud case.
“The one in New York is totally discredited,” Donald Trump told reporters as he arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, for a fundraiser. ‘Every lawyer said they don’t have a case’
Trump is due to appear in court in New York on Monday for the start of his trial. He pleaded not guilty to 34 charges related to falsifying company records in connection with a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.
Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges related to falsifying corporate records related to a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.
It could be the only one of his four cases to conclude before the November presidential election, and his lawyers have stepped up their efforts in recent weeks to get rid of the case.
Arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump repeated his claim that he was the victim of a weaponized justice system.
“The one in New York has been completely discredited,” he told reporters. “Every lawyer said they don’t have a case.
‘It’s a terrible thing. But it is election interference. It’s all managed by the White House.”
There was no immediate indication Wednesday when the latest petition would be heard.
It revolves around issues of presidential immunity. Merchan has previously said that Trump failed to file the claim on time.
“This court finds that the defendant had numerous opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” he wrote earlier this month.
Judge Juan Merchan last week denied Trump’s motion that he was entitled to presidential immunity, writing that he had “countless opportunities” to raise the issue sooner
Legal scholars have said the New York case may be one of the weaker cases Trump faces.
Yet a new poll found that a significant majority of voters view these issues as serious.
Nearly two-thirds of registered voters described the allegations as at least “somewhat serious,” compared with 34% who said the allegations were not serious in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Trump faces a busy legal schedule even as the clock ticks toward Election Day.
Also Wednesday, former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison after admitting perjury for lying to investigators and a judge about Trump’s finances.
It will be his second stint behind bars, after spending three months in jail on New York’s Rikers Island last year for his part in a 15-year tax fraud scheme.