New York

A New York judge on Monday (April 8) denied Donald Trump's bid to delay his April 15 criminal trial on charges related to paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels. 

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The development came after a half an hour hearing at the Appellate Division in Manhattan following which Associate Justice Lizbeth Gonzalez issued her decision.

A lawyer for Donald Trump, Emil Bove, said that his client was seeking to stay the case pending the application to move the trial. The prosecution retorted that Trump waited too long to object to being tried in Manhattan. The charges were brought in April 2023.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate who looks set to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov 5 US election, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

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Also watch | Donald Trump hush money trial will start April 15, judge rules

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It was not specified where exactly Trump's team would like the trial to be held. 

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The defence claimed that a survey taken by Trump's legal team of residents in Manhattan found that 61 per cent of respondents thought Trump was guilty, and 70 per cent had a negative opinion of him.

"There is real potential prejudice here to moving forward," Bove said. "Jury selection cannot proceed in a fair manner starting next week in this county."

The prosecution claimed that Trump cannot cite media attention as a reason to move the trial.

"He himself has been responsible for stoking that publicity," the prosecution said.

A criminal trial would be the first for a former US president in American history.

Donald Trump hush money case: What is it about?

Donald Trump is accused of covering up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 presidential election about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump a decade earlier.

Also read | Explained: Who is Stormy Daniels, the ex-porn star behind Trump hush money case trial?

Trump has denied any such encounter with Daniels.

The hush money case is one of four criminal cases he faces.

The others are about his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, and his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving the presidency in 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

(With inputs from agencies)