Former President Donald Trump learned Thursday that he will be heading to his first criminal trial next month after a judge dismissed his motions to delay the trial over alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the 34-count indictment against Trump nearly one year ago, which marked the first time charges had been brought over the alleged “catch-and-kill” scheme since an investigation into the matter began in 2018.
Despite Trump’s defense team bringing five key arguments to Judge Juan Merchan as to why he should dismiss the case, Merchan appeared determined to keep the trial on schedule for March 25, which would allow a jury to return a verdict ahead of July’s Republican National Convention and well before the November general election.
Here are the key takeaways from the hearing.
Trial is scheduled to begin on March 25 despite packed campaign schedule
Defense attorney Todd Blanche pushed back against Merchan’s swift decision not to dismiss the case and keep March 25 as the start date, noting that Trump is already scheduled for trial in late May in Florida on charges of illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing government attempts to retrieve them.
“We have been faced with extremely compressed and expedited schedules in each and every one of those trials,” Blanche said, according to an Inner City Press reporter who was in the room.
Merchan reportedly said Blanche had “proceeded at your own peril” by agreeing to work on the case and keep up with the demands of Trump’s packed legal schedule. After Blanche attempted to interrupt, Merchan said, “Stop interrupting me, please. … I’ve tried to work with you.”
After the hearing, Trump complained to reporters that “it’s a disgraceful situation.”
“I’m going to have to sit here for months on trial” in a “rigged state, a rigged city,” the GOP presidential front-runner said, adding, “I’ll be here during the day and campaigning during the night.”
What questions will jurors be asked?
After Merchan rejected Trump’s motions to dismiss the case, he turned to several questionnaire prompts that potential jurors could be asked before they are selected next month.
“We want to ask if jurors have given money to PACs since it seems this case involves campaign finance,” Blanche said.
Other questions include whether a prospective juror believes Trump should not be charged. Merchan suggested that the question be limited to the state proceeding and not explore whether Trump should be charged on the national level, noting Trump’s presidential immunity appeal against his federal criminal charges.
Merchan ultimately asked Bragg and the defense team to go back and reach an agreement on unresolved questionnaire matters by next week. Jury selection is slated to begin on March 25.
Federal criminal cases could ultimately push back hush money trial
Merchan was steadfast about keeping the trial on schedule “at this point,” but ultimately, the case could feature additional delays depending on the outcome of proceedings in Trump’s three other criminal cases.
While Trump’s five arguments to dismiss the case proved to be unconvincing for Merchan, the judge has been conferring with U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s 2020 election subversion case in Washington and has shown a willingness to defer to her schedule if that case were to get back on track.
“As you know, there’s a lot of moving parts in the D.C. case,” Merchan said. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen and when it’s going happen.”
Trump has secured a delay in the 2020 election case while he asks the Supreme Court to weigh his claim that presidential immunity shields him from prosecution for actions committed while he was president. Special counsel Jack Smith is urging the high court to deny this bid.
Whether the Supreme Court agrees to grant his immunity dispute for oral argument, which could be a decision made in the next several days, could determine if Merchan can proceed with the trial next month.
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Bragg’s case centers on allegations that Trump falsified business records at the Trump Organization to influence the 2016 election illegally by arranging payments that amounted to $130,000 to silence claims possibly harmful to his candidacy. It includes 34 counts of distorting records related to reimbursement checks Trump sent to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and problem-solver, to conceal tax crimes and hide the true nature of the payments, according to prosecutors.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the 34-count indictment in Manhattan, as he has in his two federal criminal cases and the criminal case in Georgia.