Trump is suing his hush-money judge

• Donald Trump is suing his Manhattan hush-money judge, Justice Juan Merchan, court records show.
• The move shows Trump amping up efforts to delay trial by getting the judge removed from the case.
• Trump's lawsuit against Merchan is not yet public.

Donald Trump plans to sue the judge in his Manhattan hush money case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.

The legal effort, which comes one week before jury selection is scheduled to begin, shows Trump is amping up his efforts to delay his trial.

These efforts have included still-pending defense complaints that Manhattan's jury pool is tainted by pretrial publicity and demands that the judge remove himself from the case due to his daughter's political consultancy work on behalf of Democrats.

The lawsuit is not yet public; its existence was recorded in online records for the state appellate division court that covers Manhattan.

Attorneys for Trump did not immediately return a call for comment.

News of the still-sealed lawsuit was first reported by the New York Times, which noted that defense lawyers are seeking to delay the trial and challenge the judge's recent gag order.

The gag bars Trump from making statements about jurors, witnesses, the trial prosecutors, and the families of Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, though not against Merchan and Bragg themselves.

Despite the gag, Trump has continued to attack Merchan's daughter, a progressive and political consultant whose firm has repped Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

He's attacked Loren Merchan in legal filings by his attorneys, seeking Merchan's recusal. He has also failed to remove from Truth Social his direct attacks Loren Merchan from prior to the gag. And he has used Truth Social to repeat others' attacks on the daughter.

Trump's fourth recent delay attempt

A lawsuit against Merchan would be Trump's fourth attempt at delaying the hush money trial in as many weeks.

Last week, Merchan rejected Trump's attempt to delay the trial on presidential immunity grounds. Trump's lawyers had claimed that things he said while president about key witnesses Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen were official statements and that Manhattan prosecutors should not be able to use them at trial.

The defense had asked to delay the trial until after the US Supreme Court decides if presidential immunity protects Trump in his federal election interference case. Oral arguments in that case are set for April 25.

Still pending are Merchan's decisions on Trump's attempts to delay the trial by arguing that "prejudicial pretrial publicity" makes it impossible to pick a fair jury any time this month, and by convincing the judge to recuse himself because of the daughter's political work on behalf of Democrats.