Former president Donald Trump’s “hush-money” case will go trial in New York on April 15, a judge ruled on Monday, refusing to delay the trial further as Trump’s team had requested.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled the trial will begin with jury selection on April 15 after he allowed the trial to be delayed when thousands of pages of evidence were turned over by the Justice Department at the last minute.
Trump’s attorneys sought to have the case dismissed in its entirety or delayed for at least three months at a hearing on Monday. Trump called the case a “witch-hunt” and a “hoax” when he arrived to a courtroom in New York Monday for the hearing.
The former president pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a payment sent by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to keep her quiet. Daniels alleged she and Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006, which Trump has denied. Cohen, now a staunch critic of Trump, is expected to be a star witness in the case, and previously pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple charges including federal campaign-finance violations. Trump’s legal team unsuccessfully sought to prevent Daniels and Cohen from testifying against him. The former president’s lawyers argued Cohen is an unreliable witnesses and willing to commit perjury against Trump.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting Trump for allegedly violating campaign-finance laws with Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels and Trump’s subsequent reimbursements. Federal authorities declined to prosecute Trump on campaign finance charges, normally a federal offense. Falsifying business records is normally a federal offense unless the defendant was committing an underlying crime by doing so. Bragg is typically a soft-on-crime, progressive prosecutor when handling regular criminal defendants.
Earlier in the day, an appeals court lowered Trump’s bond payment in his New York civil fraud case t0 $175 million and gave him 10 extra days to post the bond. The original judgement against Trump required him to post the full $464 million bond or risk having his assets seized. It was unclear if Trump would be able to post the full $464 million total on time.
“What he’s done is such a disservice and should never be allowed to happen. New York state is being battered by his decision,” Trump said of Judge Arthur Engoron for making the fraud judgement against him. Trump promised to post the full $175 million bond within the 10 day time period.