Former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial remains on track to start April 15 after a New York judge on Friday rejected the president’s bid to delay the proceeding based on pretrial publicity. is progressing to
It’s the latest in a series of failures by Republican presidential candidates to derail a lawsuit over whether they falsified business records to conceal hush-money payments to porn stars.
Judge Juan Melchán had already rejected Trump’s request for a delay in February based on pretrial publicity. Marchan also recently rejected Trump’s request to postpone the trial date until the Supreme Court rules on whether Trump is immune from other federal election interference charges.
Trump’s latest unsuccessful bid for president pointed to a private survey that found 93% of Manhattan residents had seen media related to at least one criminal investigation facing President Trump. President Trump also said a recent documentary about adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who received hush money, threatened his ability to receive a fair trial.
Trump’s lawyers said Daniels’ “ongoing public relations efforts related to the documentary included egregious conduct that prejudiced jurors while attempting to enrich himself.” claimed in a statement. Submission to court.
Preparing to vote: See who’s running for president and compare their positions on important issues with our voter guide
But Marchan said Friday that the appropriate way to allay Trump’s concerns about pretrial coverage is to have a thorough and thoughtful jury selection process.
“Indeed, this remedy is supported by defendants’ own findings showing that 70% of New Yorkers are ‘definitely or probably’ likely to be fair and impartial,” Marchand wrote. decision.
Related:Secret Service and NYPD pledge ‘highest level of safety and security’ to Donald Trump trial
Prosecutors: President Trump is doing pretrial publicity
Marchand postponed his trial from March 25 to April 15 after New York federal prosecutors responded to Trump’s subpoena in March by producing more than 100,000 pages of documents related to the case. . But the delay was much shorter than President Trump had hoped. His lawyer asked for at least 90 days to review the documents.
in Submission to court Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office objected to delaying President Trump’s pretrial publicity, saying, “Mr. Trump’s own incessant rhetoric has generated a great deal of publicity, and the defendant is actively seeking media attention.” It is evil to reward a defendant with a court adjournment for the sake of attention.”
In late March, Marchan had already issued a partial gag order to President Trump intended to protect jurors other than Bragg, witnesses, court staff, prosecutors and their staff, and prosecutors’ families. The order comes after President Trump repeatedly attacked Marchand’s daughter in posts to his millions of social media followers, giving leadership of a marketing agency that works with Democratic candidates grounds to recuse themselves from Marchand’s lawsuit. It was expanded to protect the families of Ms Machan and Ms Bragg, following claims that the law had been made public. .
Mr Machan had already decided that his resignation was not justified for the following reasons: opinion Member of the New York State Judicial Ethics Advisory Board.
In expanding the gag order, Marchan suggested that Trump’s public comments could jeopardize a fair trial.
“The average observer, having heard of the defendants’ recent attacks, would think that if they were even tangentially involved in these proceedings, they would not only be concerned about themselves; But also for their loved ones” Marchand wrote.
What crime is Mr. Trump being charged with?
If the New York criminal trial proceeds on April 15, it will be the first trial against a former president.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide $130,000 in hush money he paid Daniels just before the 2016 election. President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made this payment shortly after the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape. In it, President Trump vulgarly claimed that because he was famous, he could kiss women, molest them, and “do whatever.” Prosecutors have argued that Trump forced Cohen to pay hush money because he feared Daniels’ story about sexual encounters with the real estate mogul could further jeopardize his campaign. ing.
Prosecutors say Mr. Trump then reimbursed Mr. Cohen for payments to Mr. Daniels and had the Trump Organization maintain records of the payments under false pretense that the payments were for “legal services.”
President Trump has always denied having any relationship with Daniels, who could be a key witness in the trial. President Trump has pleaded not guilty in the New York criminal case.
