Trump claims he will testify in hush money trial as judge shoots down another attempt to delay

Donald Trump has volunteered to testify at his upcoming criminal trial in Manhattan on charges connected to a hush money scheme to bury politically compromising stories of his alleged affairs.

During an unrelated press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, standing alongside Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, the former president was asked whether he plans to testify in the case, with jury selection set to begin on Monday 15 April.

“Yeah, I would testify, absolutely,” he told reporters. “That’s not a trial. That’s a scam.”

As the event in Florida was underway, New York Justice Juan Merchan – a frequent target of Mr Trump’s public attacks, and smeared as a Democratic operative leading a politically motivated prosecution against him – denied Mr Trump’s latest attempt to adjourn the proceedings, after the former president’s attorneys argued that the trial’s “publicity” has deprived him of a fair trial.

The solution, Judge Merchan wrote, is a “thorough, thoughtful and effective voir dire” process during jury selection.

Mr Trump, who casts himself as a victim of a Democratic-led conspiracy theory against him, told reporters on Friday that the jury selection process that begins on Monday “is largely luck.”

“It depends on who you get,” he said.

Three state appeals court judges and the judge overseeing the case against Mr Trump all rejected Mr Trump’s appeals to delay the case for four consecutive days this week.

On Tuesday, an appellate court judge rejected the first of four 11th-hour requests to delay the case while Mr Trump tries to move the trial out of Manhattan. A judge also rejected his request to delay the case while he challenges a gag order that prohibits parties from publicly attacking court staff and