Trump loses bid to delay hush money trial while he fights gag order

A
New
York
appeals
judge
on
Tuesday
knocked
down
yet
another
long-shot
bid
by

Donald
Trump
to

delay
his
criminal
hush
money
trial,
this
time
by
seeking
a
pause
while
he
challenges
his
court-imposed
gag
order.

The
swift
rejection
marked
Trump’s
second
failed
attempt
in
less
than
24
hours
to
postpone
the
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
trial,
which
is
set
to
begin
jury
selection
in
six
days.

Appellate
Judge
Cynthia
Kern’s
ruling
Tuesday
afternoon
came
within
an
hour
of
a
hearing
where
lawyers
for
Trump
and
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
argued
over
the
restrictions
on
the
former
president’s
speech,
NBC
News
reported.

The
gag
order
bars
Trump
from
speaking
about
likely
witnesses
in
the
case,
and
from
making
certain
statements
about
other
related
figures
including
lawyers,
court
staff
and
their
respective
family
members.
Presiding
Judge
Juan
Merchan
last
week
expanded
the
gag
order
to
stop
Trump
from
targeting
the
family
members
of
the
judge
and
the
D.A.

Defense
lawyer
Emil
Bove
argued
in
Tuesday’s
hearing
that
Trump,
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee,
is
being
unfairly
restricted
from
speaking
about
witnesses
such
as
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels
and
Michael
Cohen,
Trump’s
former
personal
attorney.

Those
witnesses
are
publicly
attacking
Trump
and
he
is
unable
to
respond,
Bove
told
the
judge,
according
to
NBC.
He
also
argued
that
Trump
should
be
able
to
voice
concerns
about
Matthew
Colangelo,
a
prosecutor
working
for
Bragg
who
previously
worked
for
the
Department
of
Justice.

Steven
Wu,
who
spoke
for
the
D.A.,
urged
Kern
to
reject
Trump’s
bid
for
a
delay.
Wu
argued
that
the
gag
order
is
narrow
and
that
it
is
not
meant
to
prevent
political
speech
but
to
protect
against
Trump’s
personal
attacks
on
people
involved
in
the
case.

Kern
denied
Trump’s
motion
for
a
delay
in
a
one-sentence
ruling.
The
motion
will
now
be
heard
by
a
five-member
panel
of
appeals
court
judges
on
Monday,
the
same
day
as
the
start
of
the
hush
money
trial.

Trump
is
charged
with
falsifying
business
records
to
conceal
a
payment
to
Daniels
shortly
before
the
2016
presidential
election,
which
he
would
go
on
to
win
against
Democratic
nominee
Hillary
Clinton.
Trump
has
pleaded
not
guilty.

On
Monday,
another
appellate
judge
denied
a
request
by
Trump
to
pause
the
trial
while
he
seeks
to
move
the
case
out
of
Manhattan
Supreme
Court.

That
request
and
the
one
rejected
Tuesday
both
stemmed
from
a
last-minute
appeal
filed
Monday
to
the
New
York
appellate
court.
The
appeal
uses
a
legal
procedure
known
as

Article
78,
which
allows
a
person
to
challenge
decisions
made
by
state
officials
or
certain
actions
by
a
judge.

Trump’s
attorneys
are
also
trying
for
a
second
time
to
get
Merchan
to
recuse
himself
from
the
trial,
arguing
that
the
judge’s
daughter’s
work
for
a
Democratic
political
consultant
creates
an
appearance
of
impropriety.

Bragg,
in
a
fiery
court
filing
Monday,
blasted
that
request
as
a
bid
to “end-run”
Merchan’s
gag
order,
which
was
expanded
after
Trump
repeatedly
targeted
the
judge’s
daughter
on
social
media.

Merchan
last
year
denied
a
similar
request
to
recuse
himself.