Just three days prior to the commencement of Donald Trump’s trial regarding the criminal hush money scandal, the judge overseeing the case dismissed the former president’s plea to postpone the proceedings due to the extensive pretrial media coverage.
According to Judge Juan Merchan, the current situation that the Defendant is facing is not something new for him and is partly a result of his own actions.
“The judge wrote that the remedy the Defendant is seeking, which is an indefinite adjournment, is not tenable.”
According to Merchan, any worries regarding a potential juror’s knowledge of the case can be addressed through a thorough jury selection process.
According to Merchan, the defendant seems to believe that his circumstances and this particular case are exceptional, and that the publicity surrounding it will never fade away. However, Merchan argues that this perspective does not reflect the actual state of affairs.
Trump’s legal team made a separate request on Friday to modify the jury selection process. Their aim is to have more flexibility in questioning potential jurors about their political bias. Additionally, they are seeking information on the number of potential jurors who have already expressed their inability to be fair and impartial towards Trump.
Defense attorneys emphasized the importance of these figures in evaluating the adequacy of the jury selection process, both constitutionally and statutorily.
Trump’s lawyers have been attempting to transfer the case from Manhattan to a different county, claiming that it would reduce the number of potential jurors with a bias against Trump.
In April of last year, Trump entered a plea of not guilty to a 34-count indictment. The charges were related to the falsification of business records in connection with a hush money payment made by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. This payment occurred just days before the 2016 presidential election.
Jury selection for the trial is set to begin on Monday in New York City. The former president has firmly denied any wrongdoing.