• Online court docket showed sealed filing
  • Comes after Judge Merchan rejected effort to delay case last week
  • Trump is also fighting gag order judge imposed after attacks on daughter 

Donald Trump is undertaking yet another last-ditch effort to delay his Stormy Daniels trial, this time suing the judge overseeing the case who has imposed a gag order on him.

The latest push comes in the form of a lawsuit Trump intends to file against Judge Juan Merchan, suggested in court filings but not yet public.

The paperwork filed by Trump’s team remains sealed. It follows a ruling by Merchan to ‘gag’ Trump from attacks on court personnel, witnesses, and prosecutors related to the case. He expanded the gag to include family members after Trump’s repeated tax on his daughter, who works for a digital advocacy firm that does work for prominent Democrats.

Trump has since reposted criticism of the judge and his daughter by third parties, and his lawyer last week sought to have Merchan recused from the case.

Trump’s trial is set to begin Monday, and would be the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. The trial is set to begin with jury selection, and would feature blockbuster testimony and yet another series of court appearances by the former president.

The move, which is not expected to prevail, follows moves by Trump to delay the case, which had originally be set to begin last month.

Sources told the New York Times Trump’s lawyers planned to ask an appeals court to delay the trial while also challenging the gag order.

The bid comes days after Judge Merchan denied Trump’s effort to delay the trial until the U.S. Supreme Court can decide on his claim of immunity from prosecution from his time as president.

‘Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,’ Merchan wrote. He wrote Trump had been ‘well aware’ of his ability to raise the immunity claim earlier.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg in a filing Wednesday rejected the claim that Merchan was biased and couldn’t fairly preside over the trial.

‘This daisy chain of innuendos is a far cry from evidence,’ Bragg’s office wrote. ‘There is simply nothing new here.’

Trump’s lawyers have called the gag order an overreach that violates his First Amendment rights.