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Former President Trump

Photo: Lynne Sladky/dpa

Donald Trump and his lawyers are trying everything to delay the hush money trial against Stormy Daniels. Apparently the former US president is now suing Judge Juan Mercan, who is overseeing the case. This is reported by the New York Times, citing court documents that are not yet public. Merchan recently imposed a gag order on Trump.

The documents submitted by Trump's team remain sealed. The latest maneuver by Trump and his team to remove the judge in his hush money case was a malicious attempt to delay his upcoming trial and circumvent the gag order, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

Prosecutor calls Trump's actions "desperate"

Last week, Merchan tightened the conditions against Trump by forbidding the ex-president from talking about his family and that of prosecutor Bragg. This so-called gag order came in response to Trump's repeated attacks on Merchan's daughter. Trump had recently worked on her and also called her by her full name on social media. Merchan's daughter is employed at a digital advocacy firm that works for prominent Democrats. Trump has so far invoked his right to freedom of expression in his comments about her. He also described his statements as political.

Trump's "rehashed" arguments for rejecting the New York Supreme Court justice offer nothing new, according to Bragg. They were a repeat of an earlier attempt to get a new judge, he wrote in a court filing. Rather, the current rejection request is a “last desperate” attempt to postpone the process.

In the legal letter, the prosecutor accuses Trump of trying to "smear the court" and cast doubt on the "integrity of these proceedings" with his attacks against the judge and his family.

Trump's lawyers, however, argued in court filings last Friday that Authentic Campaigns, the Democratic consulting firm where Merchan's daughter works, will benefit from the hush money case. The company will collect donations from the process in order to use the money to spread anti-Trump messages.

The former president's trial is scheduled to begin April 15 with jury selection. Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

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