https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-handed-two-legal-losses-sam...

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-handed-two-legal-losses-same-day-1904237

Former President Donald Trump has suffered two key court losses as his New York City criminal trial nears its conclusion.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, one of two women who were paid off during his 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about alleged affairs. Trump denies that the affairs took place and claims to be the victim of a political "witch hunt."

On Thursday, only days before the trial's closing arguments were set to begin, panels of judges from New York's Appellate Division ruled against Trump twice—denying separate requests to force New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to recuse himself from the case and to move the trial out of Manhattan and into another county.

In the recusal decision, the court wrote that Trump's legal team had "failed to establish that the court acted in excess of its jurisdiction" when Merchan denied the initial request. The panel of judges also found that the former president's lawyers had not established that Trump "has a clear right to recusal."

However, the judges also said that Trump's arguments concerning Merchan and his related claims of presidential immunity "may be raised in a direct appeal" of the case following the trial's final outcome.

The denial of the request to change the location of the trial was issued with little explanation, with the judges only writing that they had denied Trump's motion for a venue change following "due deliberation" after "reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion."

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office via email on Thursday.