Trump Dealt Two Legal Blows in Manhattan Hush Money Trial

NEW YORK—Former President Donald Trump was dealt a pair of legal blows Thursday in litigation looking to lessen the existing severity of his ongoing hush money trial involving AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels. Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a conspiracy to silence Daniels from speaking out about their 2006 affair. In efforts to prolong the criminal trial and eventually render it null, Trump's defense team has been working overtime to lift a standing gag order and to move the case from state court to a federal venue in hopes of the guilty verdict being vacated. However, these efforts have proven fruitless as the 2024 Presidential Election in November nears. First, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review a bid filed by Trump's attorneys to issue an administrative stay on the case as it considered an appeal to remove it from the New York Supreme Court. AVN reported on this after a federal district judge in the Southern District of New York declined once again to remove the case from the courtroom of Justice Juan Merchan. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein didn't buy the defense team's arguments that Trump is immunized by presidential immunity. The Second Circuit declined the appeal on Hellerstein's denial of motion due to Merchan's acceptance of the defense motion to push back sentencing until after the election—Tuesday, November 26. The three-judge panel on the Second Circuit concluded, "In light of [Justice Merchan's] adjournment of sentencing until November 26 [...], it is hereby ordered that the motion for an emergency administrative stay is denied." By citing this, the Second Circuit dismissed the order and reverted to Hellerstein's order. Another slap in Trump's face was when his effort to have the limited gag order on him in his criminal trial lifted got denied at the New York Court of Appeals, the high court of that state. Defense attorneys for Trump have maintained the gag order violates his First Amendment rights and harms his campaigning for the U.S. presidency. The court ruled in a brief order, "Appeal dismissed without costs, by the Court sua sponte, upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved." In this case, the high court of New York ultimately declared that Donald Trump's free speech rights were not violated and threw out the appeal alongside several other cases. Regardless of the strength of the case against Trump, the attempts by his defense team to question the validity of the court and its attempts to be impartial have, for the most part, failed miserably. Among their only successes in motions has been convincing Merchan to delay sentencing. Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for the White House. If given a second term, Trump could be the first U.S. president to have been convicted of a felony offense. AVN has covered the Trump case extensively. Read more here.