A New York Court of Appeals has rejected, for the third consecutive time, a request by Donald Trump's lawyers to postpone the start of the trial for the Stormy Daniels case, scheduled for April 15. On this occasion, the defense requested the suspension of the trial while they continue to seek the dismissal of Judge Merchan and the annulment of several of the measures dictated by him because they considerably hinder the defense of the former president.
One of the arguments outlined by Trump's lawyers is that the former president should be focused on the campaign and not "in a room defending himself" from next week. During the hearing, which was held in the basement of the court as the regular courtroom was occupied, Emil Bove, a lawyer for the Republican candidate again took aim at the judge in the case: "This is a situation where a judge has exceeded his authority under circumstances with very, very serious federalism implications."
Prosecution warns that "staying the trial at this point would be incredibly disruptive"
"We’re here for this stay because there are restrictions in place that cannot operate in a constitutional way in a trial environment. It’s an incredibly important trial. It’s a historic, unprecedented proceeding. This can only be done once and it must be done right," the counsel insisted during the hearing, as reported by AP.
An argument not shared by Steven Wu, the chief appeals counsel for the Manhattan district attorney's office, who said, that "staying the trial at this point would be incredibly disruptive. The court, the people, witnesses have made extraordinary efforts to make sure this trial can take place on Monday. There’s a powerful public interest to ensure this criminal trial goes forward" In addition, Wu criticized - as the judge did earlier - that Trump and his team had had plenty of time to file the appeal wielding the alleged presidential immunity to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
