Judge Juan Merchan has rejected a motion from Donald Trump's attorneys to delay his criminal hush money trial set to begin in New York on Monday. The ruling comes after a series of decisions this week denying Trump's attempts to halt the trial.
Trump's attorneys had sought to delay the trial citing excessive pretrial publicity, but Judge Merchan deemed an indefinite adjournment as not tenable. The judge noted that the situation Trump finds himself in is partly of his own doing.
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made before the 2016 election to an adult film star who alleged an affair with him a decade earlier. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the affair.
Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to begin on Monday despite Trump's efforts to delay the proceedings. This latest ruling by Judge Merchan underscores the court's commitment to moving forward with the trial as planned.
