The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money case has said that he may delay the trial because of the former president’s packed court schedule.
The trial is currently scheduled for early 2024, but New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan cancelled a hearing set for this week and wrote in a short letter to Trump lawyer Todd Blanche that “In light of the many recent developments involving Mr. Trump and his rapidly evolving trial schedule, I do not believe it would be fruitful for us to conference this case on September 15 to discuss scheduling”.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington DC has scheduled Mr Trump’s case connected to the January 6, 2021 insurrection for 4 March 2024 – the day before Mr Trump is believed to be set to take a strong grip on the Republican presidential nomination on Super Tuesday.
The 4 March date is also just weeks before the original schedule for the hush money trial.
Previously this summer, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg suggested in a radio interview that he was open to making space for federal prosecutors in his own trial schedule.
The office of Mr Bragg was the first to charge Mr Trump – with 34 counts of falsifying business records linked to the hush money payments to adult actor Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
The judge has said that the prosecutors and defence team may discuss any alterations to the trial schedule on 15 February 2024, when they’re set to meet for the judge’s ruling on Mr Trump’s possible pre-trial motions, according to The Messenger.
“We will have a much better sense at that time whether there are any actual conflicts and if so, what the best adjourn date might be for trial,” Justice Merchan wrote.
