Former President Donald Trump asked the judge overseeing his hush money case in New York to delay the trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he has presidential immunity from prosecution in another case.
Trump’s attorneys urged Judge Juan Manuel Merchan in a filing Monday to delay the trial, which is scheduled to start March 25, until after the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Trump’s request to dismiss his federal election interference case based on presidential immunity on April 25, with a decision expected by the end of June.
“President Trump respectfully submits that an adjournment of the trial is appropriate to await further guidance from the Supreme Court, which should facilitate the appropriate application of the presidential immunity doctrine in this case to the evidence the People intend to offer at trial,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the court filing.
Unless the judge orders a delay in the proceedings, the New York case is set to be the first of Trump’s criminal cases to go to trial. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on 34 counts last April for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s trial in Washington, D.C., is already on hold pending the Supreme Court’s decision, and the judge in his Florida classified documents case has not yet come to a decision on a new start date after a recent hearing on postponing the scheduled May 20 trial.
Trump also motioned to dismiss his federal classified documents case in Florida based on presidential immunity, as well as other grounds.
Meanwhile, in Trump’s Georgia racketeering case, a judge will soon rule on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified for an alleged conflict of interest. A January motion revealed she awarded her lover, Nathan Wade, a lucrative contract and alleged she benefited financially from doing so when he took her on vacations.
Katelynn Richardson on March 11, 2024
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