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© Mike Stewart/AP/dpa
The first criminal trial against an ex-president in US history was actually scheduled to begin on March 25th.
Now it has been postponed after all.
A success for Trump.
New York - The start of the criminal trial against former US President Donald Trump in connection with hush money payments to a porn star, originally scheduled for March 25, has been delayed.
Judge Juan Merchan decided that the start of the trial would be postponed for 30 days; an exact new start date still had to be set.
A hearing is now scheduled to take place on March 25th at which the matter will be discussed in more detail.
Both Trump's lawyers and the public prosecutor's office recently asked the court in New York for a postponement.
To date, there has never been a criminal trial against a former US president in US history.
Judge Merchan actually confirmed at a hearing in mid-February that the trial should start as planned on March 25th with jury selection.
The date had already been scheduled last year.
For Trump, who wants to be re-elected US President in November and wants to delay the many trials against him as much as possible, the postponement is a success.
A total of four criminal trials are currently being prepared against him, and civil trials are also ongoing.
Trump paid porn actress $130,000 in hush money
Trump's lawyers had asked for the New York trial to be postponed because they would first have to wait for a decision from the US Supreme Court regarding the ex-president's possible immunity from prosecution.
The Supreme Court accepted Trump's appeal on the issue of possible immunity at the end of February and is planning a hearing at the end of April.
The public prosecutor's office, in turn, announced a few days later that it was prepared to start the trial as planned on March 25, but was also not opposed to a "short adjournment that does not exceed 30 days".
The reason for this is tens of thousands of pages of newly arrived documents with more than 70,000 pages that are relevant to the process and still need to be examined.
The background to the case is primarily that Trump had $130,000 in hush money paid to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, shortly before his election as president.
She had claimed that she had had sex with him.
Trump denies an affair, but does not deny that money was flowed.
Non-disclosure agreements between two parties are not illegal.
However, Trump is accused of illegally recording the payments, trying to conceal them illegally and thereby trying to cover up other violations of the law.
The ex-president has pleaded not guilty.
dpa