Trump files another appeal to delay hush money trial days before jury selection begins

Donald Trump’s lawyers have filed another appeal in their failed last-ditch efforts to stall an imminent criminal trial in New York, where the former president faces 34 charges connected to a hush money scheme to bury compromising stories of his alleged affairs.

State appeals court judges have already shot down two of his attempts this week. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on 15 April.

His latest appeal, reportedly viewed by CNN before the two-page filing was sealed on the public docket on Wednesday, challenges New York Justice Juan Merchan’s refusal to hear Mr Trump’s argument that “presidential immunity” shields his “official acts” from prosecution.

Mr Trump’s attorneys also are challenging the judge’s “refusal” to recuse himself from the trial.

Attorneys have asked for an appeals court to hold a hearing on 6 May. The filing does not request an emergency hearing for a delay, but the move from Mr Trump’s legal team marks yet another attempt to derail the case as it heads to his first-ever criminal trial.

The filing on Wednesday follows rejections from state appeals court judges who shot down two attempts to delay the trial while he argues to move the case out of Manhattan and as he challenges a gag order that bars him from publicly attacking court staff and their families.

Last month, Mr Trump’s attorneys pressed Judge Merchan to take the trial off the calendar until the US Supreme Court decides whether the former president can claim “immunity” from prosecution in a separate case surrounding his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The nation’s highest court is not scheduled to hear that case until 25 April, the final day for oral arguments in this year’s session, and one week after the New York