Judge declines to delay Trump’s NY hush money trial over complaints of pretrial publicity

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

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

Among other things, Trump’s lawyers had argued that the jury pool was deluged with what the defense saw as “exceptionally prejudicial” news coverage of the case. The defense maintained 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.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Manhattan court must find a dozen jurors to hear first-ever criminal case against a former president </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Many say Biden and Trump did more harm than good, but for different reasons, AP-NORC poll shows </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Trump will be first ex-president on criminal trial. Here’s what to know about the hush money case </bsp-custom-headline> </bsp-list-loadmore>

Pointing to Trump’s two federal defamation trials and a state civil business fraud trial in Manhattan within the past year, Merchan wrote that the