FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks before entering the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in New York. A dozen Manhattan residents are soon to become the first Americans ever to sit in judgment of a former president charged with a crime. Jury selection is set to start Monday in former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
NEW YORK (AP) – The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case on Friday turned down the former president’s request to postpone his trial because of publicity about the case.
It’s the latest in a string of delay denials that Trump has gotten from various courts this week as he fights to stave off the trial’s start Monday with jury selection.
Among other things, Trump’s lawyers had argued that the jury pool was deluged with what the defense saw as “exceptionally prejudicial” news coverage of the case. The defense argued that was a reason to hold off the case indefinitely.
Judge Juan M. Merchan said that idea was “not tenable.”
Trump “appears to take the position that his situation and this case are unique and that the pre-trial publicity will never subside. However, this view does not align with reality,” the judge wrote.
He said questioning of prospective jurors would address any concerns about their ability to be fair and impartial.
Prosecutors had objected to Trump’s request, saying that the publicity wasn’t likely to wane and that Trump’s own comments generated a lot of it. Prosecutors also noted that there are over 1 million people in Manhattan and said jury questioning could surely locate 12 who could be impartial.
Trump’s lawyers had lobbed other, often similar, arguments for delays at an appeals court this week. All were turned down by individual appellate judges, though the matters are headed to a panel of appeals judges for further consideration.
