As of: April 6, 2024, 7:06 p.m
By: Mark Stoffers
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Donald Trump wanted to delay the hush money trial surrounding erotica star Stormy Daniels. Now the judge in New York denied him immunity.
New York – Donald Trump has suffered a serious setback in one of his court cases. Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding in New York in the criminal trial of the hush money case surrounding erotic star Stormy Daniels, rejected Trump's request to postpone the proceedings until the Supreme Court decides on the question of the president's immunity Has decided. The former US President and Republican candidate in the 2024 US election had already made this argument in all other trials.
Bitter defeat for Donald Trump: Judge rejects application for immunity - hush money trial is coming
Merchan justified the rejection of Donald Trump's request by saying it was untimely and wrote in his decision that "the defendant had countless opportunities to assert the claim to presidential immunity, which experts view with skepticism, well before March 7, 2024 “to do,” as reported by the
New York Times,
among others
. Accordingly, the ex-president failed to request a postponement within the legal deadline.
According to the US portal
Forbes
, Merchan decided that the application had not been submitted in time. Therefore, the judge continued, he would not consider whether presidential immunity would preclude “the introduction of evidence of alleged presidential acts.”
Sensitive bankruptcy for Donald Trump: The judge in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial rejected his request for immunity as “untimely”. © Mike Stewart/dpa
Defeat for Donald Trump: Application in Stormy Daniels' hush money trial dismissed
This removed one of the last obstacles to the first criminal prosecution of a former American president. Trump had asked the judge to delay the trial until the Supreme Court rules on whether he is immune from prosecution for official actions he took while president. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on the issue this month but may not rule until June.
Trump's request to delay the trial was his latest attempt to delay his four criminal trials, which are playing out against the backdrop of his campaign in the race for the White House. If Trump manages to delay the proceedings until Election Day and wins the presidency, they would likely come to a standstill. The following proceedings await Trump, who was the first president in US history to be charged under criminal law:
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Donald Trump's application rejected in New York: hush money trial begins on April 15th
Some of his tactics have paid off. In Florida, where Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents, a Trump-appointed judge has not yet set a final trial date. And in Washington, DC, where a special prosecutor is accusing the ex-president of trying to rig the 2024 election, the Supreme Court has paused the process while it considers the issue of immunity.
In the Manhattan case, Trump, whose cognitive abilities were deteriorating according to an expert, obtained a three-week reprieve from the end of March to mid-April after new investigative documents emerged. But Trump wanted to delay the process further. His lawyers asked for a 90-day delay or outright dismissal of the case, blaming prosecutorial misconduct for the last-minute documents that emerged.
That accusation carried little weight with Judge Merchan, who recently confirmed April 15 as the start date and rebuked Trump's legal team.
Judge clears the way for Trump's hush money trial involving erotica star Stormy Daniels
And the attempt to delay the Manhattan trial until June was particularly far-fetched. At a hearing in February, Judge Merchan stated, "I don't believe the issue of state procedures is for the Supreme Court."
The Manhattan case stems from a hush-money deal struck with porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 election campaign. In a 34-count indictment last year, Manhattan prosecutors accused Trump of falsifying business records related to the bribe.
(mast)