Judge denies Trump’s delay bid in N.Y. criminal case

A judge has denied former President Donald Trump’s final request to delay his New York criminal trial until the Supreme Court rules on his presidential immunities. In a court filing Wednesday, Judge Juan Merchan argued that the motion for a delay by Trump’s defense team was “untimely” — and, if serious, should have been filed months earlier.

“This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” Merchan wrote, per CBS News. “Defendant could have done so in his omnibus motions on September 29, 2023, which were filed a mere six days before he briefed the same issue in his Federal Insurrection Matter and several months after he brought his motion for removal to federal court on May 4, 2023.”

The criminal case brought on by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of covering up documents during his 2016 presidential election. The business records include Trump reimbursing his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, $130,000 in payments to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels from speaking out about their alleged affair years earlier.

The presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee is being accused of 34 felony counts regarding falsified business records but has denied any wrongdoing, including the claim that he had relations with Daniels.

Merchan squashed Trump’s motion and told his lawyers that they could argue presidential immunity as it pertains to the case or when it is appropriate to argue it against the prosecution’s evidence. “The Court declines to consider whether the doctrine of presidential immunity precludes the introduction of evidence of purported official presidential acts in criminal proceeding,” Merchan wrote, according to CNN.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments regarding Trump’s presidential immunity later this month. Trump’s defense first brought up the defense of immunity in his criminal case in Washington, D.C., which is centered on accusations that he attempted to reverse the outcome of his 2020 election defeat against President Joe Biden.

“U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump’s claim that allegations in the hush money indictment involved official duties, writing last July, ‘The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,’” per ABC News.

Hellerstein added, “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.”

The case is currently set for trial on April 15.