(Correct the wording in paragraph 6.)
Written by Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York appellate judge said on Monday that former President Donald Trump’s April 15 charges stemming from hush money payments he made to a porn star as he sought to move the case out of Manhattan. rejected Donald Trump’s request to postpone his criminal trial.
Associate Judge Lizbeth Gonzalez issued the ruling shortly after a 30-minute hearing in the Appellate Division of the Intermediate State Court of Appeals in Manhattan.
Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, said at the hearing that his client is asking for the case to be put on hold pending a motion by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to move the case. .
Stephen Wu, a lawyer with Mr. Bragg’s office, countered that Mr. Trump waited too long to challenge the case in Manhattan, where he once lived. The charges were filed in April 2023.
Trump, the Republican candidate who will challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 US presidential election, has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records.
Bove did not say where the Trump campaign wants the trial to be held. According to Bove, a survey conducted by Trump’s legal team of residents of Manhattan, one of New York City’s five boroughs with a high Democratic support rate, found that 61% of respondents said they believed Trump was guilty. It was found that 70% of respondents had a negative opinion of Mr. Trump.
“There’s an implicit bias against progress here,” Bove said. “This county will not be able to fairly proceed with jury selection starting next week.”
Wu said the jury selection process could weed out biased jurors and that Trump could not use media attention as a reason to move the trial.
“He himself is responsible for fueling that reputation,” Wu said.
This is the first criminal trial for a former US president.
In exchange for remaining silent before the 2016 presidential election about former lawyer Michael Cohen’s claims that he had a sexual relationship with Trump 10 years ago, President Trump hired porn actress Stormy Daniels. He is accused of concealing $130,000 he paid to President Trump has denied any such contact with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
This is one of four criminal cases he is facing. Other reasons stem from his efforts to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified government documents after leaving office in 2021. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and David Gregorio)
