Donald Trump’s latest appeal for a delay in his criminal hush money trial inNew York has been denied, two weeks after proceedings began.
The former president had sought a delay for several reasons, including that presiding Judge Juan Merchan had refused to recuse himself from the case, and that he had not been permitted to invoke a presidential immunity defense.
Mr Trump had also argued that Judge Merchan has restricted his ability “to file motions in said proceedings and include rulings and submissions in the public record.”
The appeal was denied by justices of the New York appeals court on Tuesday.
It comes after Judge Merchan continues to clash with Mr Trump in the Manhattan courtroom, ordering the former president to pay a fine of $9,000 earlier on Tuesday for violating a previous gag order.
He found the former president in contempt of court on nine of the first ten violations of the gag order, which had prohibited Mr Trump from attacking key witnesses in the trial on his social media platform Truth Social, fining him $1,000 for each.
In his written order, the judge warned that Mr Trump could face an “incarceratory punishment” if he continues his “wilful violations” of the court’s order, if “necessary and appropriate under the circumstances”.
He also suggested that Mr Trump could face more severe sanctions, if the financial penalties aren’t enough to stop the billionaire defendant.
“While $1,000 may suffice in most instances to protect the dignity of the judicial system to compel respect for its mandates and to punish the offender for disobeying a court order, it unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the contemnor can easily afford such a fine,” Judge Merchan wrote.
“In those circumstances, it would be preferable if the court could impose a fine more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor,” he added.
“In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000. Because this court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment.”
The posts in question disappeared during Tuesday’s lunch break, less than an hour before the 2.15pm deadline set by Judge Merchan. He must pay the fine by Friday.
As well has dishing out the fine, Judge Merchan said he would give the court a day off to allow Mr Trump to attend his son Barron Trump’s high school graduation on 17 May.
The trial – the first criminal trial to be brought against a former or sitting president – has now been underway for just over two weeks. Last week saw the beginning of courtroom testinomy from witnesses including tabloid mogul David Pecker.
In his testimony, Mr Pecker outlined the “catch and kill” scheme at the heart of the hush money case, in which stories deemed to be damaging to Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign would allegedly be bought up but not published.
The former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, in order to stop her coming forward with allegations of a 2006 affair.