NEW YORK (NEWSnet/AP) — For the third straight day, a New York appeals court rejected an attempt by Donald Trump’s lawyers to delay the former president’s hush money criminal trial.

Barring yet another appeal, the first of Trump’s four criminal trials will start as scheduled on Monday.

In their latest effort, Trump’s lawyers had asked the state’s mid-level appeals court to halt the case indefinitely while they fight to remove the trial judge and challenge several of his pretrial rulings.

“We’re here for this stay because there are restrictions in place that cannot operate in a constitutional way in a trial environment,” Trump lawyer Emil Bove argued at an emergency hearing Wednesday held in a court basement lobby because the regular courtroom was in use.

“It’s an incredibly important trial. It’s a historic, unprecedented proceeding,” Bove said, adding: “This can only be done once and it must be done right.”

Assuming the trial schedule holds, this would be the first criminal trial of a former president.

Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, argued at Wednesday’s hearing that Trump’s lawyers had months to raise immunity and other issues and should not be rewarded with a delay at the eleventh hour.

“Staying the trial at this point would be incredibly disruptive,” Wu said. “The court, the people, witnesses have made extraordinary efforts to make sure this trial can take place on Monday.”

Justice Ellen Gesmer presided over the emergency hearing from an armchair, facing a hodgepodge of wooden seats and a collapsible table.

Trump is accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Cohen’s activities included paying porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.

One one appeals court judge rejected his bid Monday to delay the trial while he seeks to move it out of Manhattan.

A different judge then denied a request Tuesday that the trial be delayed while Trump fights a gag order imposed on him in recent weeks.

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