'Alarmed': Legal expert says ex-president is showing 'desperation' over criminal case

Days before his hush money criminal case is set to start, defendant Donald Trump's reportedly in panic mode.

Former federal prosecutor Norm Eisen sees former President Donald Trump's last-ditch efforts to stall the case as acting out in "extraordinary desperation."

Three days in a row, Trump's tried to sway a New York appeals court to put the brakes on his criminal trial, which has already been delayed before. And so far, the attempts haven't worked, setting the stage for the trial to get underway on Monday.

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In their latest try, Trump's legal team tried to push the appeals court judges to press pause indefinitely while they attempt to replace New York Judge Juan Merchan and zap several of his pretrial rulings which they contend have handicapped Trump's ability to mount a defense.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who accused the ex-president of fudging a six-figure payment to porn star Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 presidential election.

"We're here for this stay because there are restrictions in place that cannot operate in a constitutional way in a trial environment," Emil Bove, a former federal prosecutor and one of Trump's attorneys, said during a hasty hearing on Wednesday.

"It's an incredibly important trial. It's a historic, unprecedented proceeding," he added. "This can only be done once and it must be done right."

Bove also accused Merchan of having "exceeded his authority."

Eisen was stunned by the nonstop efforts of Trump to hold off the criminal proceedings.

"I have never seen anything like this," Eisen said on CNN.

For Eisen, Trump is facing not only the reality of a conviction, but the chance at serving hard time.

"He stands a significant risk of being convicted and sentenced to incarceration, and he knows it," said Eisen, adding that the allegations he's facing, specifically election interference that could stain his candidacy while trying to return to the White House as the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

"So that is why the connection is here; 2016 allegations of lying to voters to manipulate an election," Eisen explained. "And then as a gateway drug to 2020, that's why Trump is so alarmed harmed in this extraordinary failed effort keeps failing and keeps making these requests to delay and it keeps failing every single time."

Trump's hush-money case is the first of his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.