Ed Morrissey

Trump's attorneys wanted an outright dismissal or at least a longer continuance based on alleged discovery violations, so they didn't get much today out of Merchan. It seems unlikely that the court will be sympathetic to pre-trial publicity concerns, given Trump's penchant for airing his own views publicly about this and his other cases. All of this is smart lawyering, though, in case appeals are needed down the road. This case is so convoluted that an appeals court will likely look at it with disfavor even if a hostile jury sticks it to Trump in the end.