Trump seeks delay of hush money trial over ‘prejudicial’ press coverage, as he slams the case

Attorneys
for

Donald
Trump
have
asked
a
judge
for
a “significant”
delay
of
his
fast-approaching

criminal
hush
money

trial,
arguing
the
Republican
presidential
nominee
cannot
get
a
fair
jury
due
to “prejudicial
pretrial
publicity.”

The
trial
on
charges
of
falsifying
business
records
must
adjourn
until
that
press
coverage “abates,”
Trump’s
lawyers
wrote
last
week
in
a

filing
in
New
York
Supreme
Court.

But
in
the
wake
of
that
request,
Trump
himself
has
publicly
cast
doubt
on
the
integrity
of
the
trial
through
a
torrent
of
social
media
posts
attacking
the
presiding
judge
—
and
the
judge’s
adult

daughter.

Those
posts
came
after
Judge
Juan
Merchan
imposed
a

gag
order
barring
Trump
from
speaking
about
likely
witnesses
and
other
figures
involved
in
the
case.

The
gag
order
does
not
explicitly
bar
Trump
from
attacking
the
judge
himself.
Prosecutors
asked
Merchan
on
Thursday
to “clarify
or
confirm”
that
the
order
protects
family
members
of
the
court.

Trump
in
a
slew
of
recent
Truth
Social
posts
has
called
for
Merchan’s
recusal
from
the
case,
accusing
him
of
political
bias.
A
number
of
those
posts
reference
Merchan’s
daughter’s
work
for
a
Democratic
political
firm,
and
at
least
one
of
them
includes
her
full
name
and
picture.

But
in
their
court
filing
requesting
a
trial
delay,
Trump’s
lawyers
argued
that
it
was
the
press,
not
the
former
president,
tainting
the
jury
pool.

Citing
a
survey
of
400
New
York
residents,
the
attorneys
wrote, “It
is
clear
that
potential
jurors
in
Manhattan
have
been
exposed
to
huge
amounts
of
biased
and
unfair
media
coverage
relating
to
this
case.”

“Many
of
the
potential
jurors
already
wrongfully
believe
that
President
Trump
is
guilty,”
their
filing
said.

They
also
pointed
to
a
finding
in
a “media
study”
that
many
articles
included “prejudicial
discussion
of
other
proceedings
involving
President
Trump
and
inaccurate
and
irrelevant
discussions
of
alleged
sexual
misconduct,
including
false
claims
regarding ‘rape.'”

Trump,
in
a
separate
federal
civil
trial
last
year,
was

found
liable
for
sexually
abusing
writer
E.
Jean
Carroll
in
the
mid-1990s,
then
defaming
her
decades
later.

The
defense
lawyers’
filing
also
asserted
that
the
Manhattan
District
Attorney’s
Office
has “used
strategic
leaks”
in
its
prosecution
of
Trump
on
charges
of
falsifying
business
records
to
conceal
a
hush
money
payment
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels.

The
filing
also
accused
the
DA’s
office
of
scheduling
the
sentencing
of
former
Trump
Organization
executive
Allen
Weisselberg
—
who
last
month
pleaded
guilty
to

perjury
—
close
to
the
trial
date
in
a
deliberate
move
to
drum
up
more
news
coverage.

Weisselberg
is
set
to
be
sentenced
April
10,
five
days
before
jury
selection
begins
in
the
hush
money
trial.

The
filing
also
argues
that
the
ongoing
criticism
of
Trump
by
two
key
trial
witnesses
—
Daniels,
and
Trump’s
former
personal
lawyer
Michael
Cohen
—
underscore
that
he “cannot
get
a
fair
trial
in
New
York
County
right
now.”

“Therefore,
the
Court
should
adjourn
the
trial
date
until
the
prejudicial
media
coverage
subsides,”
the
attorneys
wrote.

The
filing
is
dated
March
18,
but
it
was
made
public
last
week
after
a
court
hearing
on
a
different
bid
by
Trump
to
dismiss
the
indictment
or
push
the
trial
to
a
later
date.

Merchan
in
that
hearing
ordered
jury
selection
to
begin
April
15
following
his
rejection
of
claims
by
Trump’s
attorneys
that
the
DA’s
office
had
violated
evidence-sharing
rules.
But
the
judge
allowed
those
lawyers
to
file
their
motion
to
adjourn
the
trial
on
the
grounds
of
negative
press
coverage.

“The
news
media
that’s
been
generated
is
not
a
result
of
President
Trump,”
defense
attorney
Todd
Blanche
said
in
that
hearing.

Prosecutor
Matthew
Colangelo
responded
that
the
chance
of
the
trial
being
delayed
due
to
the
media’s
coverage
is “extremely
unlikely.”

Publicity
in
the
case
—
the
first
of
four
criminal
cases
against
Trump
to
head
to
trial
—
won’t
subside,
Colangelo
told
the
judge.

The
prosecutor
also
noted
that
that
intense
media
coverage “has
been
caused
and
exacerbated”
by
Trump.

Merchan
gave
the
DA’s
office
one
week
to
file
its
full
response.