Donald Trump on Monday asked the New York judge presiding over his criminal case stemming from hush money payments he made to a porn star to postpone the case until the U.S. Supreme Court finishes reviewing his claims of presidential immunity in a separate case. I requested that.
The first-ever criminal trial against a former US president is scheduled to begin on March 25 in New York state court in Manhattan.
President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors keep quiet about former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s claims to porn actress Stormy Daniels that she had sexual contact with him 10 years ago before 2016 election He ordered Cohen to pay him $130,000 and falsely recorded the reimbursement to Cohen as legal expenses. .
President Trump denies meeting with Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford).
The move is the latest in President Trump’s efforts to delay four future criminal trials he faces until closer to or after his scheduled Nov. 5 election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. be.
The Supreme Court granted Trump a victory last month by agreeing to hear Trump’s claim in late April that he would be immune from federal prosecution as he sought to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss. I announced. The ruling will delay the start of the trial by at least several months. .
By contrast, the court acted quickly to keep Trump on Colorado’s primary ballot, rejecting an effort to disqualify him on the eve of the election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges of “election interference.”
“Pressure Campaign”
Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing Monday that the outcome of the Supreme Court’s review is relevant to the hush-money case, as prosecutors seek to present evidence of statements Trump made while president. Then he said.
Last month, prosecutors announced they planned to present evidence of a “pressure campaign” run by President Trump in 2018 to keep Cohen from cooperating with a federal investigation into payments to Daniels. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations the same year.
Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing Monday that prosecutors’ pressure campaign claims are “fictional.” They argued that President Trump’s social media posts about Cohen were “official communications” about “public concerns” and therefore not subject to state prosecution.
“Without immunity from criminal prosecution based on official conduct, the President’s political opponents will seek to influence and control his decisions through de facto blackmail,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which filed the charges, declined to comment.
Last year, President Trump made a similar argument as part of a failed attempt to move hush-money lawsuits from state to federal court. In rejecting Trump’s request in July 2023, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote that the payments to Daniels were “purely personal.”
“The hush money paid to the adult film star is not related to the president’s official conduct,” Hellerstein wrote.
