NY Judge Rejects Trump’s Motion to Dismiss Criminal Case, Sets Trial for March 25
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
President Donald Trump’s efforts to delay his New York criminal trial were rejected by a judge Thursday, and a trial date has been set for March 25.
According to a report by CNN, Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges related to hush money he allegedly paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public with their previous affair during the 2016 presidential election. The case, which includes 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime, is among the four different criminal indictments facing the former president and GOP frontrunner.
“We strongly believe for a trial to start on March 25 is a great injustice,” argued Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche, adding that the ex-president’s legal team had been “faced with extremely compressed and expedited schedules” in Trump’s various trials, the schedule for these trials could overlap, and emphasized that their client had a constitutional right to adequate time to prepare for trial.
Merchan rejected these arguments, noting that he had spoken with Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing the former president’s federal criminal trial related to Jan. 6 and attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Because that federal trial was on hold for appeals regarding Trump’s claims of presidential immunity, it was now known that the federal trial would not happen in March, leaving the calendar clear for this New York proceeding.
“He’s not going to be in more than one criminal trial at the same time,” Merchan said, and cut off Blanche when he attempted to object and request a scheduling conference. This wasn’t necessary, said the judge, because “you don’t have a trial date in Georgia, you don’t have a trial date in Florida,” and scolded the defense attorney about interrupting him.
After denying the motion to dismiss, the judge set the trial date, with jury selection to begin in New York on March 25.
Watch above via CNN.
This is a breaking news story and has been updated.
