Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial is still due to start picking a jury on April 15.
The former president and GOP candidate came up short Monday afternoon in his latest attempt to stop the case about the $130,000 payment paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet just before the 2016 election about an affair the two had years before.
In one of many procedural moves to keep the trial from starting next week, Team Trump wanted the pause button hit on the calendar so they could get the matter shifted out of Manhattan.
A New York state appellate judge said no.
“Defendant’s application for a stay of trial …pending the determination of defendant’s motion for change of venue, is denied,” decided Associate Justice Lizbeth Gonzalez after a short hearing in front of the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host’s lawyers and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Moving the money via his one-time bagman and lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump faces criminal charges connected to the cash. As with all his indictments, Trump has plead not guilty here to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Both Daniels and Cohen, who went to jail for a while for covering up for his old boss and then for turning on him, are expected to be called as witnesses at the trial.
This hush money case is one of four criminal cases the ex-president is currently fighting. It is likely the only one that will actually start before the November election and the end of the year.
This effort may have proven a bust, but Trump has also sought to overturn the gag order the judge in the hush money case as another delaying tactic, sources close to events confirm to Deadline. Despite the order by Judge Juan Merchan to protect his family and staff and that of Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, Trump continues to attack the judge’s daughter and others.
