Donald Trump on Monday asked the New York judge overseeing his criminal case over hush money payments to porn stars to delay the trial until the U.S. Supreme Court completes its review of his presidential immunity claims in a separate case.
The first criminal trial of a former US president will begin on March 25 at the New York State Court in Manhattan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors say he directed his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said a decade ago before the 2016 election, and then His reimbursements to Cohen were incorrectly recorded as legal expenses.
Trump has denied meeting Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
It’s the latest move by Trump to seek to delay the four upcoming criminal trials he faces until, or even after, his expected Nov. 5 rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on April 25, one month after jury selection in Trump’s hush-money case begins. This is the first of four criminal cases in which he is scheduled to go to trial.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in all criminal cases, which he calls “election interference.”
Trump’s lawyers said in court papers filed on Monday that the Supreme Court’s findings are relevant to the hush-money case, as prosecutors seek evidence of comments Trump made while he was president.
Last month, prosecutors said they planned to present evidence of Trump’s 2018 “pressure campaign” to ensure that Cohen did not cooperate with the federal investigation into Daniels’ payments. Cohen pleaded guilty that year to violating campaign finance laws.
Trump’s lawyers said in court documents filed on Monday that prosecutors’ claims about the pressure campaign were “fiction.” They said Trump’s social media posts about Cohen were “official communications” about “matters of public concern” 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 or her decisions through de facto blackmail,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which filed the charges, declined to comment.
Last year, Trump made similar arguments in an unsuccessful attempt to move the hush-money case from state court to federal court. In July 2023, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote in denying Trump’s request that the payments to Daniels were “purely personal items.”
“Hush money payments to adult film stars have nothing to do with the president’s official conduct,” Hellerstein wrote.
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
