By The newspaper
08 Apr 2024, 20:00 PM EDT
Former President Donald Trump plans to sue the judge of his upcoming criminal trial in New York, Juan Merchan, in what represents a new attempt to postpone the process after recently requesting, and for the second time, the recusal of the magistrate.
Trump’s defense delivered confidential documentation to the court today indicating those last-minute plans before the trial scheduled for April 15, according to The New York Times.
Last Thursday, in a different motion, the lawyers asked that Merchan recuse herself, arguing that she has a conflict of interest related to her daughter, who is professionally linked to the Democratic Party, despite the fact that that same request was already denied last year.
Throughout his career as a real estate magnate and later politician, Trump has used delaying maneuvers to gain an advantage over his opponents in numerous cases.
In fact, the Times points out that apart from the lawsuit against the judge, today his lawyers also plan to ask an appeals court to delay the trial.
They deny one of their plans
And they are not the only legal movements today: they have also requested to change the court where the trial is scheduled, in Manhattan, and to pause the gag law that limits the Republican candidate’s public comments on potential witnesses or the prosecutor’s family and Judge.
On the other hand, Judge Lizbeth González, of the New York Appellate Division, denied this Monday Trump’s attempt to emergency delay his imminent criminal trial in the state.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that it was necessary to stop the trial because “an impartial jury cannot be selected at this time based on prejudicial pretrial publicity.”
Gonzalez rejected the request in a one-line ruling Monday afternoon without explanation.
However, this ruling does not affect Trump’s request to change the court’s location.
The former president faces 34 counts of fraud for falsifying documents to hide payments made in 2016, during his presidential campaign, to porn actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged extramarital relationship, something that Trump denies.
The New York trial is the first criminal trial ever opened against a former president of the United States and will begin on April 15 with jury selection.
With information from EFE.
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