Former President Donald Trump got an unfortunate update in his “hush money” case in Manhattan centered around charges levied by District Attorney Alvin Bragg. An appeals court judge in New York denied Trump’s request to delay his trial over hush money payments on Tuesday.
Justice Cynthia Kern issued the ruling, rejecting arguments from Trump’s legal team that the trial should be postponed until a full panel of judges could review an appeal related to the gag order on Trump according to Fox News.
While Kern ruled against Trump, he had the opportunity to appeal to a full panel of five appellate court judges. However, it’s highly unlikely that the court will be able to take action before the trial starts on Monday. At that point, Trump will become the first former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution.
On Tuesday prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office made the case for maintaining the gag order as well. The order bars Trump from making disparaging remarks about witnesses, the prosecution, and the family of the judge.
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Trump had asked the court to push back the April 15 trial date while the Supreme Court reviews his claims of presidential immunity. Last Wednesday, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan rejected the former president’s request, referring to it as “untimely.”
“This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” Merchan wrote. “Defendant could have done so in his omnibus motions on September 29, 2023, which were filed a mere six days before he briefed the same issue in his Federal Insurrection Matter and several months after he brought his motion for removal to federal court on May 4, 2023.” Merchan noted in his ruling that pre-trial motions are supposed to be filed within 45 days of arraignment. The former president was arraigned in Bragg’s case last April. Merchan also said that the fact that Trump had waited until “a mere 17 days prior to the scheduled trial date of March 25, 2024, to file the motion, raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion.”
The 34 charges, brought forward by DA Bragg, accuse Trump of falsifying business records linked to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels, the former adult film star. The case centers on an alleged $130,000 payment arranged by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to allegedly ensure Daniels’ silence about an alleged affair before the 2016 campaign.
The trial was initially set to begin on March 25, rejecting Trump’s bid to delay the trial even further.
The case involving Trump and allegations of hush money payments centers on payments made to two women, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Trump has denied these affairs. The payments were made before the 2016 presidential election, ostensibly to prevent the women’s allegations from becoming public and potentially affecting the election’s outcome.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges including campaign finance violations related to these payments. He claimed that he arranged payments to the women at Trump’s direction. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison but said his actions were taken to protect Trump’s candidacy.
The legal issues revolve around whether these payments constituted illegal campaign contributions. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan initially investigated the payments as part of the broader inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. However, Trump was not charged with any crime as part of that investigation.
The case touches on complex legal questions regarding campaign finance laws, presidential immunity, and the potential for criminal liability. It is part of a wider array of legal challenges and investigations Trump has faced since leaving office, including inquiries into his business practices, his administration’s policies, and his actions surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
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