Judge Keeps April 15 as Start of Trump Hush-Money Trial
The former president had wanted a Manhattan judge to further delay his trial on charges related to a porn star’s affair claim as he seeks to regain the White House.
www.nytimes.com
Jesse McKinley
Merchan is pressing Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, on why it took the defense so long to mention to his court that there were documents they had requested from Southern District of New York. Merchan is calm, but seems a little perplexed by the defense’s actions.
This is history in the making. A former president being charged in a court of law with committing crimes. Years from now the history books will be full with this. I say they will be because I have faith the USA will still be around as a democratic republic.
Notes of quotations I took as I followed the day's breaking news on a former president being charged in a court of law with committing crimes:
Justice Merchan ends the hearing by saying, “See you all on the 15th.”
Judge Appears Skeptical of Trump’s Attempt to Delay Criminal Trial
Donald J. Trump is in a Manhattan courtroom to seek another delay of his criminal trial on charges that he covered up a sex scandal that could have derailed his stunning victory in the 2016 presidential election.
Donald Trump’s team is making another bid to delay the trial over pretrial publicity, but Justice Juan Merchan does not seem inclined to entertain it. “I’ll give the [district attorney] one week to respond. In the meantime, the scheduled trial date is April 15.”
With that, the hearing ended. “See you on the 15th,” Merchan said as he left the bench.
According to the pool report, Trump attacked the criminal case in hallway comments, calling it “election interference” and “voter intimidation.” He said he would appeal Justice Merchan’s decision.
New York State Court judge Juan M. Merchan rejected the defense arguments. He found no harm to Trump from documents not received.