Donald Trump’s Manhattan state court hush-money criminal case involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels and the Playboy model Karen McDougal will proceed to trial on 25 March.
The judge in Trump’s case, Juan Merchan, announced his decision moments after the ex-president appeared in his 15th-floor courtroom at 100 Centre Street at 9.30am for a hearing in the case.
Trump, who sported a red tie and dark suit as per usual, had a tired appearance.
Merchan got straight to the point when proceedings kicked off, saying he had issued a written ruling on Trump’s bid to throw out the case.
“Defendant’s motions to dismiss have been denied,” Merchan said, before adding: “We’re moving ahead to jury selection on March 25.”
The trial date means the Manhattan case will be the first of four criminal cases against Trump to go before a jury.
While the trial date was open and shut for Merchan, Trump’s team fought his scheduling decision, claiming it violated Trump’s rights. Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche pointed to the ex-president’s classified documents case in Florida, which is expected to start in May.
Trump could not possibly prepare for that trial, Blanche argued, if he were present for the Manhattan case.
“That is a constitutional violation in our view, judge,” Blanche said of Trump being unable to prepare for his defense in the other case, later saying: “It’s truly an impossible position for anyone to be in.”
Politics also weighed into Blanche’s unsuccessful push to delay the trial.
“As the court is aware, we are in the middle of primary season,” Blanche said.
He explained that there were two key time periods in any election, especially one for president of the United States. One is primary season and the other is general election season; he noted there are 27 primaries in March.
“It is completely election interference to say: ‘You are going to sit in this courtroom in Manhattan when there is no reason for it,’” Blanche said. “What about his rights?”
Trump – who was well-behaved in Merchan’s courtroom, contrasting with his comportment in the E Jean Carroll trial courtroom – similarly railed against the trial date as he entered the proceeding.
“We want delays, obviously. I’m running for election,” Trump reportedly said shortly before walking into Merchan’s courtroom. “How can you run for election if you’re sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long?
“I’m supposed to be in South Carolina right now, where other people are,” Trump also said, despite the fact that Merchan had last week given him the option of attending this proceeding virtually.
“There was no crime here at all. This is just a way of hurting me in the election because I’m leading by a lot.”
Despite his legal issues – which span multiple fronts aside from this New York case – Trump is the overwhelming favorite to secure the Republican presidential nomination and face Joe Biden in the 2024 race for the White House. In most polls, Trump ties or has the edge on Biden, including in key swing states.
In April, Trump was charged with 34 counts related to the alleged falsification of business records as part of a purported scheme to cover up extramarital affairs. This conspiracy, in turn, was meant to influence the 2016 election, prosecutors said.
Trump’s indictment marked the first time in US history that a former president was charged with a crime. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has accused Trump of trying to sway the presidential race “by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant’s electoral prospects”.
Prosecutors contend that Trump shuttled hundreds of thousands of dollars to his then attorney, Michael Cohen, in an effort to bury accounts of marital infidelity, and then listed the expenses as legal costs in business documents.
The indictment focuses on payouts to Daniels and McDougal, and also involves a doorman at Trump Tower who said he had information about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock. Trump has denied these liaisons.
Prosecutors said Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels and coordinated with the publisher of the National Enquirer to give McDougal $150,000, to suppress their accounts. In turn, Trump’s namesake company allegedly repaid Cohen $420,000 in several installments.
The charge Trump faces, falsifying business records, is a class E felony, carrying a maximum prison sentence of four years. The hush-money case is a state prosecution, not federal, so Trump would not be able to pardon himself if he won the presidency in 2024.
In August, Georgia state prosecutors charged Trump and 18 others with scheming to unlawfully overturn Joe Biden’s narrow win. Also in August, the justice department special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.
In June, Smith charged Trump with illegally keeping classified documents that he allegedly took to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after leaving office. The next month, Trump was charged in an alleged plot to have an employee scrub surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s legal woes in New York could intensify even more this week. The New York Times reported that the judge overseeing Trump’s civil business fraud case might issue a decision on financial penalties this Friday.
The state attorney general’s office is asking Judge Arthur Engoron to impose a $370m penalty on Trump. Prosecutors also asked Engoron to permanently prohibit Trump from participating in the state’s real estate industry or serving as the officer or director of New York corporations.
Trump suffered a significant financial hit on 26 January when a Manhattan federal court civil jury awarded the writer E Jean Carroll an $83.3m verdict in her second defamation trial against him. Carroll previously won $5m in a sexual abuse and defamation case against Trump with a jury determining that he assaulted her around early 1996 – and tarnished her reputation with his denials.
Today’s proceeding came to a close after some 100 minutes, during which additional housekeeping matters, such as disputes over questions for would-be jurors, were discussed.
Right as Trump was passing through the door into the hallway to exit, someone in the audience clapped loudly. Trump turned to look at the person clapping and offered a slight, close-mouthed smile.
Trump spoke to reporters after the hearing ended and vowed that he’d continue to politick during the trial.
“We’ll just have to figure it out,” Trump said, according to ABC. “I’ll be here during the day, and I’ll be campaigning during the night.
“I’m honored to sit here day after day after day on something that everybody says the greatest legal scholars say it’s not even a crime.”
