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Lawyers for Donald Trump launched a last-ditch effort Wednesday to delay the start of his hush money trial on Monday, filing yet another appeal. It marks the latest round in a blitz to stop the first of four criminal trials starting next week. Twice this week, New York appeals courts have rejected other attempts to postpone the case.
The latest filing is a petition against Judge Juan Merchan, challenging his decision not to recuse himself from the case as well as his refusal to hear arguments about presidential immunity, according to ABC News . The former president is due to appear in new York court on Monday when jury selection will begin in his business fraud trial.
Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts related to falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign. It may be the only one of his four cases that will be completed before November’s presidential election, and his lawyers have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to throw it off track.
Arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump repeated his claim that he was the victim of a weaponized legal system. ‘The one in New York is totally discredited,’ he told reporters. ‘Every legal scholars said they have no case. ‘It’s a horrible thing. But it’s election interference. It’s all run by the White House.’
There was no immediate indication Wednesday when the latest petition would be heard. It revolves around questions of presidential immunity. Merchan has previously said Trump failed to raise the claim in time. ‘This court finds that defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,’ he wrote earlier this month.
Legal scholars have said that the New York case may be one of the weaker ones facing Trump. Yet a new poll found that a sizeable majority of voters see them as serious.
Almost two thirds of registered voters described the charges as at least ‘somewhat serious,’ compared to 34% who said the charges lacked seriousness in Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump faces a busy legal timetable even as the clock ticks down to Election Day.
Also on Wednesday, former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison after admitting to perjury charges for lying to investigators and a judge about Trump’s finances.
It will be his second stint behind bars after spending three months at New York’s Rikers Island jail last year for his part in a 15-year tax fraud.
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