Donald Trump faces 34 counts of accounting fraud related to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. (document)
New York:
A New York judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to dismiss charges that he covered up hush-money payments to porn stars, setting the stage for the former US president’s first criminal trial to begin on March 25.
Meanwhile, Trump’s representatives attended a separate hearing in Atlanta to urge the disqualification of the lead prosecutor who brought charges of election fraud and racketeering against Trump.
They are just two of four criminal cases facing the Republican front-runner as he campaigns to retake the White House, with his legal team trying to delay the actual trial until after the Nov. 5 vote.
Trump, who has used media attention on his legal troubles to anger his supporters and denounce Democratic rival Joe Biden, reiterated his claim that the charges were “just a way to hurt me in the election.”
“How can you campaign if you sit in a Manhattan courthouse all day?” he said when he arrived.
After the hearing began, Judge Juan Merchant rejected Trump’s request to dismiss or delay, ruling that jury selection will begin as scheduled in late March.
The former president’s legal team has argued that he will not receive a fair trial in New York as another Manhattan jury has awarded $83 million to author E. Jean Carroll in the case of Trump. He was found to have been sexually assaulted and defamed.
The judge rejected that, as well as Trump’s lawyers’ argument that there was too much media coverage and that the jury could not be impartial.
“Given all the information I have, we will conduct jury selection on March 25,” Merchan said.
Trump, wearing his trademark red tie and dark suit, fidgeted in his seat as his lawyers argued with the judge and prosecutors.
The former president faces 34 counts of accounting fraud related to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors say Trump illegally withheld money transfers to his longtime lawyer and aide Michael Cohen to reimburse him for burying reports about Trump’s alleged extramarital sexual relationships with Daniels and a Playboy model .
legal roller coaster
Trump’s lawyers are also representing him in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Biden.
The hearing was aimed at getting District Attorney Fanny Willis to have the case dismissed due to her alleged relationship with another prosecutor.
As US media reports, Trump’s legal roller coaster could continue on Friday if there is a verdict in a civil fraud trial in which he is accused of grossly inflating the value of his property.
In that case, he would risk paying up to $370 million and face a ban from doing business in New York state.
He could also face another trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Washington.
Trump has used a raft of legal cases to bolster his own narrative of victimization as he campaigns to return to the White House.
The hush-money case came in the final days of the 2016 election, when Trump was riding a wave of political outsider victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 over payments to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Prosecutors said the money was an attempt to silence Daniels over claims she had a tryst with Trump in 2006, a year before he married Melania Trump.
Late in the campaign, Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen arranged to pay Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her promise of confidentiality.
Trump, who has delighted in his reputation as a playboy for years, has denied a romance with Daniels, which may have occurred just after his third wife, Melania, gave birth to a child.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
