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Trump had sought an indefinite delay, saying media coverage was
prejudiced against him, and finding an acceptable jury in
Manhattan would be tough because the borough was "overwhelmingly
biased" against him.
But in a decision on Friday, Justice Juan Merchan said an
indefinite adjournment was "not tenable."
Merchan also said Trump himself generated much of the publicity
surrounding his legal troubles, including through "unrelenting
media posts" attacking people he blamed for them.
"The situation defendant finds himself in now is not new to him
and (is) at least in part, of his own doing," Merchan wrote.
Prosecutors argued the publicity was not likely to drop, and it
would be "perverse" to reward Trump with a delay based on media
attention he courted.
They also said thorough questioning of prospective jurors would
likely find enough who could decide the case fairly.
Trump is the Republican presidential candidate in an expected
Nov. 5 election rematch against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden,
who beat him in 2020.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump's campaign, said in an
email: "President Trump and his legal team will continue
fighting against this Biden Trial and all of the other Witch
Hunts."
Earlier this week, three individual state appeals court judges
rejected various arguments by Trump for a trial delay, though a
full panel will eventually consider the issues.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in four criminal
cases he faces.
The hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin
Bragg would be the first criminal trial of a former U.S.
president.
Prosecutors say Trump covered up $130,000 of payments that his
former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy
Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, to ensure her silence
about an extramarital sexual encounter a decade earlier.
Trump has denied the encounter happened, and pleaded not guilty
to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
His lawyers have said the payments were legitimate legal
expenses.
The hush money case could be Trump's only criminal trial before
November's election.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris
Reese)
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