Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday against Judge Juan Merchan, in a last ditch attempt to prevent his alleged hush money case in Manhattan from going to trial next week.
The details of the lawsuit lawsuit have not yet been made public but sources close to Trump told the New York Times that the former president plans to ask the appeals court to postpone the trial and challenge the gag order Merchan imposed on Trump.
The presumptive Republican nominee was barred from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, at the request of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
While Trump is currently facing four major criminal cases, it is possible that only the Manhattan trial, which is scheduled to begin on April 15, will be decided before November's presidential election. The trial will also be the first instance in American history of a former president facing criminal prosecution.
Bragg alleges that Trump helped falsify business records, in order to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims that she had sex with the former president. Prosecutors say that Trump concealed his reimbursement of one-time ally Michael Cohen and committed 34 felonies in the process.
Trump's attempts to block the lawsuit will likely fail - and fail quickly. A priliminary ruling could be issued on Monday, before a larger panel convenes to rule on the issue later this week, the New York Times reported.
This filing is one of several strategies being put forward by Trump to delay the trial. His team also filed a request on Monday to move the trial outside the largely Democratic borough of Manhattan, where the former president is deeply unpopular. Additionally, Trump has asked that Merchan recuse himself - arguing that the judge's daughter's position at a Democratic consulting firm constitutes a conflict of interest.
