Judge Rejects Last-Ditch Trump Attempt To Delay Hush Money Trial

NEW YORK (AP) The judge in Donald Trump s hush money criminal case  on Friday turned down the former presidents request to postpone his trial because of publicity about the case.

Its the latest in a string of delay denials that Trump has gotten from various courts this week as he fights to stave off the trials start Monday with jury selection .

Among other things, Trumps 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 Trumps request, saying that the publicity wasnt likely to wane and that Trumps 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.

Trumps lawyers had lobbed other, sometimes 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.

Trumps hush money case is the first of his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial  and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.

Trump is accused of doctoring his companys records to hide the real reason for payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who helped the candidate bury negative claims about him during his 2016 campaign. Cohens activities included paying porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her story of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier, which Trump denies.

Trump pleaded not guilty  last year to 34 felony counts  of falsifying business records. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.