A week before he’s scheduled to stand trial, former President Donald Trump has launched a last-minute attempt Monday to delay his criminal trial in New York, move the case out of Manhattan and loosen the restrictions imposed on his speech.
His attorneys asked an intermediary appellate court to stay the April 15 trial date, arguing overwhelming pretrial publicity made it impossible to find a fair and impartial jury even with a rigorous jury selection process.
“In terms of prejudicial pretrial publicity in this county, this case stands alone,” defense attorney Emil Bove said, arguing there had not been a case with so much attention since the 1999 police killing of Amadou Diallo.
In a brief argument before the Appellate Division First Department, the defense suggested that too many people in Manhattan have a negative opinion of Trump.
“When bias against the defendant is this engrained, has taken root to this extent, voir dire cannot be trusted to clear that up,” Bove said. “Jury selection cannot proceed in a fair manner next week in this county.”
A prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office said there’s nothing to suggest potential jurors in Manhattan were “uniquely susceptible” to negative pretrial publicity since Trump is a national, even global, figure.
“The idea of transferring venue here is misguided,” the prosecutor, Steven Wu, said. “The mere fact that they know about this case is not an indication of bias.”
Prosecutors also said Trump himself – either through social media postings, campaign speeches or courthouse remarks – was responsible for generating much of the publicity associated with the case charging him with falsifying business records to cover the true purpose of a hush payment to a porn actress.
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“This is the defendant coming into this argument with unclean hands,” Wu said.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he visits the driving range ahead of the final round of LIV Golf Miami, at Trump National Doral Golf Club, Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Doral, Fla.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty last April.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
