NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Donald Trump is now 0 for 3 in last-minute attempts to get a New York appeals court to delay his looming hush money criminal trial. An appeals court judge Wednesday swiftly rejected the latest salvo from the former president\u2019s lawyers, who argued he should be on the campaign trail rather than \u201cin a courtroom defending himself\u201d starting next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s lawyers had asked the state\u2019s mid-level appeals court to halt the case indefinitely while they fight to remove the trial judge and challenge several of his pretrial rulings, which they argue have seriously hindered the presumptive Republican nominee\u2019s defense<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Justice Ellen Gesmer\u2019s ruling, after a third straight day of emergency hearings on Trump\u2019s delay requests, was yet another loss for Trump, who has tried repeatedly to get the trial postponed. Barring further court action, the ruling clears the way for jury selection to begin next Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re here for this stay because there are restrictions in place that cannot operate in a constitutional way in a trial environment,\u201d Trump lawyer Emil Bove argued at the hearing, which was held in a court basement lobby because the regular courtroom was in use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly important trial. It\u2019s a historic, unprecedented proceeding,\u201d Bove said, adding: \u201cThis can only be done once and it must be done right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s hush-money case is the first of his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial<\/u><\/a> and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>Adding to a litany of complaints registered this week with the appeals court, Bove argued that trial Judge Juan Merchan \u201cexceeded his authority\u201d in refusing to postpone the case until the Supreme Court rules on an immunity claim Trump raised in another of his criminal cases. Trump\u2019s lawyers argue some evidence in the hush-money case could be excluded if the Supreme Court rules in his favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merchan last week declared that request untimely, ruling that Trump\u2019s lawyers had \u201cmyriad opportunities\u201d to raise the immunity issue before they finally did so in March, well after a deadline for pretrial motions had passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office, echoed that sentiment at Wednesday\u2019s emergency hearing. He argued that Trump\u2019s lawyers had months to raise immunity and other issues and should not be rewarded with a delay at the eleventh hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStaying the trial at this point would be incredibly disruptive,\u201d Wu said. \u201cThe court, the people, witnesses have made extraordinary efforts to make sure this trial can take place on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a powerful public interest to ensure this criminal trial goes forward,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gesmer presided over the emergency hearing from an armchair, facing a hodgepodge of wooden seats, a collapsable table and a restroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump is accused of falsifying his company\u2019s records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Cohen\u2019s activities included paying porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump pleaded not guilty<\/u><\/a> last year to 34 felony counts<\/u><\/a> of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump already struck out twice this week with the appeals court. One appeals court judge Monday rejected his bid to delay the trial while he seeks to move it out of Manhattan. A different judge on Tuesday denied a request, framed as part of a lawsuit against Merchan, that the trial be delayed while Trump fights a gag order imposed on him in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyers had asked Merchan last month to adjourn the New York trial indefinitely until Trump\u2019s immunity claim in his Washington, D.C., election interference case is resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers have not raised that as a defense in the hush-money case, but they argued that some evidence \u2014 including Trump\u2019s social media posts about former lawyer Cohen \u2014 is from his time as president and should be excluded from the trial because of his immunity protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court is to hear arguments in that matter on April 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a situation where a judge has exceeded his authority under circumstances with very, very serious federalism implications,\u201d Bove argued at Wednesday\u2019s emergency hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyers also renewed their argument that Merchan should step aside from the case. They\u2019ve accused him of bias and a conflict of interest, citing his daughter\u2019s work as the head of a firm whose clients have included President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyers filed a formal recusal request with Merchan last week. The judge rejected a similar request in August and has not ruled on Trump\u2019s pending request. The judge has also yet to rule on another defense delay request, which claims that Trump won\u2019t get a fair trial because of \u201cprejudicial media coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTheir recusal arguments are completely meritless,\u201d Wu argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s lawyers also took issue with a protocol Merchan put in place last month to manage a flood of last-minute court filings. And, they revisited their complaints \u2014 aired at an emergency hearing Tuesday \u2014 about the gag order Merchan imposed on Trump last month that bars him from making public comments about witnesses, jurors and others regarding their connections to the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s ability to campaign \u201cis something that\u2019s protected under the First Amendment, for President Trump and the American people,\u201d Bove argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n