New York –

The judge in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal case on Friday rejected the former president’s request to delay the trial amid revelations about the case.

It’s the latest in a series of drawn-out denials Trump has received from various courts this week as he works to avoid the hush-money case, which is set to begin with jury selection on Monday.

Among other things, Trump’s lawyers argued that the jury pool was filled with what the defense considered “extremely biased” news coverage of the case. The defense insists this is a reason to postpone the case indefinitely.

Judge Juan M. Merchan wrote that Trump “seems to be taking the position that his situation and this case are unique and that pretrial publicity will never subside. That view, however, It doesn’t match reality.”

Merchian noted that over the past year, Trump has had two federal defamation trials and a state civil fraud trial in Manhattan, with the former president himself “taking most, if not most, of the blame for his public statements personally” The public around them has a responsibility” in those courts and on social media.

“The position the defendant now finds himself in is not new to him and is at least partly of his own making,” the judge added. He said questioning of potential jurors would address any concerns about their ability to be fair and impartial.

Messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s attorneys. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.

Trump testifies

Meanwhile, Trump said on Friday he planned to testify at the trial, calling the case a “hoax.”

“All I can do is tell the truth,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “The fact is, they don’t have any case.”

Asked about jury selection, Trump said the process was “a lot of luck.”

“It depends on who you get,” Trump said.

“It’s very unfair that I’m being tried there,” he said, repeating his complaints about the judge.

In a court filing last month, Trump attorney Todd Branch argued that “potential jurors in Manhattan have been exposed to extensive biased and unfair media coverage related to this case. “

“Many potential jurors already mistakenly believe President Trump is guilty,” Branch added, citing the defense’s review of media articles and other research it conducted.

Branch said the review found 1,223 articles about the case published online from mid-January to late February, many of which “unfairly and inappropriately ‘demonized’” Trump. However, a diagram included in a defense submission made multiple references to terms relevant to the case. Cases such as “Manhattan Trial” were mentioned 207 times and “hush money” was mentioned 142 times.

Trump’s lawyers also accused key prosecution witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels of driving negative coverage of Trump. They pointed to Cohen’s harsh criticism of Trump on podcasts and social media, as well as the publicity surrounding the release of Daniels’ documentary, which premiered last month on the NBC streaming service Peacock.

1 million to choose from

Prosecutors argued that public attention was unlikely to wane and that Trump’s own comments had a large impact. Prosecutors also pointed out that there are more than 1 million people in Manhattan and they believed the jury’s questioning was certain to find 12 people, plus six alternates, who could be impartial.

Trump’s hush-money case is the first of four criminal indictments that will bring him to trial, and will be the first criminal trial of a former president.

He is accused of tampering with company records to conceal the true reason for the payment to Cohen. Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, helped the candidate cover up negative accusations against him during the 2016 campaign. Cohen’s activities included paying $130,000 to porn actor Daniels to suppress stories that she had extramarital sex with Trump years ago, which Trump denied.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. His lawyers argued that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.

Trump’s lawyers made other, sometimes similar, delaying arguments to the appeals court this week. One of the appeals seeks to put the trial on hold until an appeals court can fully consider the defense’s argument that the trial needs to be moved elsewhere, arguing that the jury pool has been tainted by news coverage of Trump’s other recent cases.

Trump’s lawyers also insist the Republican presidential nominee faces “real potential bias” in heavily Democratic Manhattan.

All appeals this week were dismissed by individual appeal judges, although the matters will be referred to a panel of appeal judges for further consideration.

In addition to claims about pretrial publicity, Trump’s lawyers have also raised questions about former Trump Organization treasurer Allen Weisselberg, who was recently indicted for lying in a civil fraud case . They accused the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office of “using unethical, violent tactics against an innocent man in his 70s” while “turning a blind eye” to the perjury charges against Cohen.

Trump’s lawyers are accused of pressuring Weisselberg to plead guilty. Murcha said the new charges “once again compel courts to express continued and growing vigilance against the practice of attorneys making serious accusations and statements that have no apparent basis in fact — or at least are not supported by a legitimate knowledge base.”