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By Andrew Stanton
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Former President Donald Trump is running out of time to delay the trial over hush money payments he allegedly made during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year charged Trump on a 34-count indictment for allegedly making the payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. His office has accused Trump of paying Daniels to prevent her from making public comments about her allegations of an affair with the former president, which he has denied. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has accused Bragg of targeting him for political purposes.
The trial is set to begin on Monday, April 15, marking the first time the former president will be tried for criminal charges.
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He has sought to delay the case to a later point, but these efforts have thus far been unsuccessful.
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On Tuesday, his efforts to delay the trial were dealt another blow by New York Associate Justice Cynthia Kern, who rejected his plea to delay the trial while he fights a gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, according to a report from Reuters.
Kern's decision only applies to the "interim stay of the proceedings." A full panel of judges will determine whether to delay the trial on April 15, the same day jury selection is scheduled to begin, reported Molly Crane-Newman, a journalist for the New York Daily News.
Trump's legal team, however, during a hearing on Tuesday argued the gag order is an unconstitutional imposition against his freedom of speech as he campaigns for president. They had sought to have the trial delayed until a full panel of judges rule on the gag order, according to the Associated Press.
He now has only six days to secure a delay before the trial begins.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek it is unsurprising that this effort was rejected.
"Even if the gag order is overbroad and violates Trump's First Amendment rights, that is not a reason to delay the trial. One really has nothing to do with the other," he said.
An appeals court will likely be hesitant to delay the trial "when these challenges should have been raised earlier and not a week before jury selection is to commence," Rahmani said.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.
The ruling comes just one day after another effort at delaying the case was shot down by Judge Lizbeth Gonzalez on Monday.
She heard arguments into whether the trial should be moved to another jurisdiction, as Trump has raised concern about whether he can receive a fair trial in the heavily-Democratic borough of Manhattan.
Ultimately, Gonzalez issued a ruling denying his request to move the trial.
Tuesday's ruling centered around the gag order issued by Merchan, who last week expanded the order include prohibitions on Trump making statements about his family and that of the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who requested the move late last month.
Merchan instituted the order after Trump made several posts attacking his daughter, Loren Merchan, for her alleged involvement in progressive political organizations. A violation of the gag order could result in Trump being held in contempt of court, fined or even jailed.
"This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose," Juan Merchan wrote in the revised order.
Notably, the former president is still free to criticize Bragg and Merchan.
Update 4/9/2024 3:27 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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