Trump faces do-or-die moment with hush money trial

Former President Trump is facing a do-or-die moment in his effort to delay the start of his first criminal trial, with his choice of punting tactics dwindling in the days leading up to his day in court in New York.

The former president has vigorously fought to stave off his criminal trials until after Election Day — an endeavor that, if successful, could put the four cases against him on ice should he win the White House.

Trump hasn’t completely run out of options on the hush money case, but judges this week rejected some of his remaining eleventh-hour strategies.

That has provided the clearest sign yet that Trump’s trial over his alleged role in concealing a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election will begin Monday.

“Their entire strategy for years and years has been delay, delay, delay,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University. “This is true in the federal cases, it’s true in the state cases — it’s been true of any inquiry, even, that he faces. 

“When it comes to the timing, it certainly is the case that the later this goes, the better it is for Trump,” she said. 

Trump’s attorneys appeared in court each of the past three days seeking delays of the imminent trial, but appeals judges in each instance rebuffed the efforts.

The first bid was to delay the trial while Trump’s lawyers argue that the case should be tried outside of Manhattan. They contended that the deep-blue New York City borough is not a proper venue for Trump, instead suggesting Staten Island, where he won his last two presidential elections, hold the trial.

An appeals judge declined to issue an emergency stay on the matter Monday, which would have postponed the trial indefinitely.

The second effort Trump’s lawyers mounted Monday followed a lawsuit Trump filed against the New York judge overseeing his hush money case regarding the gag order he imposed on the former president’s speech — a maneuver that effectively acts as an appeal of the order.

Trump again asked the state appeals court to indefinitely pause the trial while he  mounts an appeal against the gag order instituted by Judge Juan Merchan last month.

In his original order, Merchan cited Trump’s “uncontested record” of attacking individuals involved in his legal matters as reason to limit his speech. The order barred Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and court staff, but didn’t preclude him from hurling insults at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) or the judge himself.

Merchan later expanded the order to include his own family members and Bragg’s family after Trump took aim at the judge’s daughter, who works for a progressive political consulting firm that boasts clients including President Biden and Vice President Harris.

But a different state appeals judge also refused to pause the trial over that matter Tuesday.  

And Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers mounted a third attempt for a delay by challenging some of Merchan’s other rulings. Yet another appeals court judge similarly denied that request to adjourn the trial.

Now, both matters will head to a full five-judge panel to consider the requests. If the panels rule differently than the individual judges, the trial could still be stopped — but not before it starts.  

After previously expressing doubt that the trial would begin as planned, Trump after the recent string of defeats seemingly acknowledged his trial will begin Monday.

“On Monday I will be forced to sit, gagged, before a highly conflicted & corrupt judge, who hatred for me has no bounds,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

Though Trump’s options are running thin, he still has several matters pending before the trial judge.

Merchan has yet to rule on Trump’s demand for an indefinite delay due to “prejudicial pretrial publicity,” contending the immense public attention has led Manhattan residents to prejudge Trump’s guilt.

“President Trump cannot get a fair trial in Manhattan County right now,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche wrote in court papers.

Bragg’s office has pushed back, telling the judge Trump himself is helping drive the publicity and that jury selection procedures are sufficient to address any concerns. 

“[T]here is no indication that this Court will be unable to find twelve jurors willing to evaluate the evidence in this case impartially,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. 

As the various last-ditch efforts proceed, Trump has also renewed his demand that the judge recuse himself from the case, pointing to his daughter’s employment at the progressive political agency.

Last summer, the judge rejected an earlier recusal motion from Trump that centered on similar accusations. Merchan at the time said he based his decision to remain on the case on guidance from a state ethics advisory group.

In the latest round, the former president’s lawyers wrote that “new evidence and changed circumstances,” including that Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee who is expected to face Biden in November, requires Merchan to step aside.

In court filings, Bragg’s office said Trump had identified no new fact to change the earlier rejection.

“Instead, defendant’s motion is nothing more than his latest effort to delay the forthcoming trial; and—in both timing and substance—appears transparently reverse-engineered to provide an ex post justification for defendant’s attacks on the Court and the Court’s family,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo wrote to the judge.

“This Court should reject defendant’s dilatory tactic and deny the motion.” Levinson, the law professor, said the likelihood of Trump’s motion’s success is slim. 

“It’s already failed before; I don’t think things have changed enough to require recusal,” she said. 

“Trump always thinks about visuals and how things play, and I think there is the potential concern that seeing him inside a courtroom as a criminal defendant is not a great political ad leading up to November,” Levinson said. “Having said that, he has been very effective at saying for years that he is the subject of the worst political witch hunt in his nation’s history, and so he will try to use those visuals to say, ‘See, I told you so.’”