Topline
A judge in former President Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York delayed the start of the trial by 30 days Friday, after thousands of pages of new documents were presented, pushing the trial’s start to at least mid-April, just seven months ahead of the presidential elections.
Key Facts
Trump asked Judge Juan Merchan to adjourn the trial scheduled for March 25, arguing the court should pause the trial for 90 days, until after the Supreme Court rules on his motion to dismiss his separate federal criminal case for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in April over whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution as a former president, given the acts were taken while he was in office—and Trump argued the hush money trial should wait until after its ruling, because the Manhattan District Attorney’s office may try to use evidence from when Trump was in office to make its case.
The DA’s office, which brought the case against Trump, said Thursday they would agree to a 30-day delay, because federal prosecutors only just turned over a huge batch of documents to them that they have to review—which Trump opposed as being too short.
Merchan ruled the trial will be adjourned for 30 days from the date of his ruling, and scheduled a hearing for March 25 to consider Trump’s separate motion to dismiss the indictment.
The judge will also consider during the March 25 hearing when the new start date for the trial will be, if he rules against Trump’s motion to dismiss.
Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung told Forbes that Trump and his legal team “have been consistent and steadfast that this case has no basis in law or fact,” reiterating Trump’s request to have the case dismissed.
What To Watch For
Merchan’s ruling Friday will push the start date of the trial until at least the middle of April, assuming the 30-day delay holds and the trial does not get pushed back further. The trial is expected to last for approximately six weeks once it begins. Should the case get any further delayed, it could conflict with Trump’s other criminal trials, as prosecutors are seeking to have at least some of those cases go to trial over the summer, before the November election.
Surprising Fact
Trump has now used his “presidential immunity” defense in all four of the criminal cases against him, even as courts have routinely rejected it. In addition to the hush money case and federal election case, he has also argued his charges should be dropped in the federal case against him for allegedly mishandling White House documents—claiming he’s immune because he declared the documents to be “personal” while he was still in office—and claimed he has immunity from state charges in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Trump asked the Supreme Court to take up the immunity dispute after federal district and appeals court judges rejected his argument, with a panel of appeals court judges ruling that “former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant.”
Key Background
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan case, which stems from “hush-money” payments made during his 2016 campaign. Ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in order to silence her allegations that she had an affair with the then-candidate. Trump then allegedly reimbursed Cohen through installments disguised as legal payments, including through the Trump Organization. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. If he’s convicted, the charges could result in up to 136 years in prison and up to $170,000 in fines, though legal experts have said it’s unlikely Trump would be sentenced to prison as a first-time offender. Trump’s request to adjourn the trial was part of a larger strategy to delay his criminal trials until after the November election—which has been successful in other criminal cases, as the dates for his other three trials remain up in the air amid various procedural delays.
Further Reading
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