Trump criminal trial will start Monday after judge rejects latest delay effort

MANHATTAN (CN) — A New York judge on Friday shot down another attempt from Donald Trump to delay his upcoming hush-money trial on the eve of jury selection.

In March, Trump moved to have the proceedings indefinitely adjourned due to “prejudicial pretrial publicity,” claiming that the juror pool in Manhattan has been “bombarded” with negative media coverage of Trump which tainted his odds at a fair trial.

Trial is set to kick off Monday, and with New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan rejecting Trump’s motion on Friday, it appears that it will stay that way.

In a four-page decision, Merchan ruled that Trump’s request for an indefinite adjournment is “not tenable,” adding that Trump himself is to blame for much of the pretrial publicity he claims to loathe.

“In this county alone, defendant has had two civil trials, one in state court and the other in federal court,” Merchan wrote. “In those two matters, he was personally responsible for generating much, if not most, of the surrounding publicity with his public statements, which were often made just a few steps outside the courtroom where the proceedings were being conducted, and with his unrelenting media posts attacking those he perceived to be responsible for his plight.”

In his motion, Trump referenced a survey conducted by his legal team which found that 61% of respondents in Manhattan already believe him to be guilty. Merchan wasn’t intrigued by the defense’s effort, chiding them for “seemingly waiting until the eve of trial” to commission the research.

The judge pointed out that, according to Trump’s own study, 70% of respondents answered that they could “definitely or probably” be fair and impartial. Either way, Merchan noted the jury selection process should weed out any jurors with true biases.

“The court is thus skeptical of the reliability and interpretation of defendant’s commissioned survey and media study,” Merchan said. “Nonetheless, even if the court were to credit the results in full, it would still find that the best way to address defendant’s concern is through effective voir dire.”

Trump also claimed Manhattan prosecutors “coerced” a guilty plea out of former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg, who admitted last month to perjuring himself in Trump’s civil fraud case. Trump claimed that Weisselberg’s plea stirred up more negative press in the lead-up to his criminal trial.

Prosecutors took issue with the notion that they “pressured” Weisselberg into a plea. Merchan agreed, scolding Trump for making an accusation that “does not attribute a source nor is it accompanied by any corroboration.”

“The people’s justifiable concern compels this court — again, to express its continuing and growing alarm over counsel’s practice of making serious allegations and representations that have no apparent basis in fact — or at least are unsupported by a legitimate basis of knowledge,” Merchan wrote.

Trump’s motion to delay trial due to the supposedly “prejudicial” media attention was just one of roughly a dozen last-ditch efforts to delay the trial further. Earlier this week, he made three unsuccessful interim stay requests in a state appellate court.

Monday’s planned start date is already late, though. Trial was supposed to begin March 25, but Trump accused prosecutors of violating rules of discovery — claims Merchan later ruled to be baseless — pushing back the start date to April 15.

Trump will stand trial on charges that he falsified business records to cover up hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the case against Trump last year, claiming that the former president directed his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen to dole out the payments to suppress negative press during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts of falsifying business records.

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