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(Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s lawyers fired up the spaghetti cannon this week aiming it squarely at the walls of the courthouse in Manhattan where he’s due to face a jury on Monday. They’re now zero for three on emergency petitions to delay the trial for creating false business records to conceal his 2016 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.
In the first motion, Trump demanded to delay the case because he can’t get a fair hearing in Manhattan. His theory was that everyone in the borough voted for Hillary Clinton, and also Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen said mean stuff about him, and thus the venue must be shifted due to prejudicial pretrial publicity. Which was rich coming from someone who had to be ordered on penalty of perjury to stop hurling abuse at the judge’s daughter. That motion was swiftly rejected by Justice Lizbeth Gonzalez after a hearing on Monday.
The gag order was the subject of Trump’s second emergency motion filed Tuesday under New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rule Article 78, in which he demanded to delay the trial while he litigates his sacred First Amendment right to “defend” himself by hurling abuse Cohen and Daniels. After a hearing in which the DA pointed to Trump’s long history of attacking his enemies online, including witnesses in this case, Justice Cynthia Kern tossed that effort as well.
Then yesterday Trump filed yet another Article 78 petition arguing that“The unconstitutional effects of Justice Merchan’s rulings are causing ongoing, irreparable constitutional harms to Petitioner and the voting public and, if not stopped, will prevent Petitioner from receiving a fair trial.”
Reporting from the Washington Post’s Shayna Jacobs suggests that this argument was no more coherent when argued in person. At the hearing, Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove complained about Trump’s presidential immunity defense, Justice Merchan’s failure to recuse, and a court order barring the defendant from spamming the docket with garbage motions on the eve of trial.
How the voting public is harmed by this was not immediately clear. But at the end of the hearing, Justice Ellen Gesmer simply noted that, “After hearing argument from counsel for all parties, the court denies movant’s application for a stay of the proceedings pending resolution of the Article 78 proceeding in the nature of prohibition.”
Trump’s lawyers probably have at least a couple more crazy motions up their sleeves yet. Unfortunately, Melania’s mother was so rude as to die in January, so that won’t help. But look for someone in Trumpland to have a very conveniently timed health crisis in 3…2…
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
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