(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – Attacking former President Donald Trump for his latest effort to prove he had nothing to do with alleged hush-money payments, a Manhattan judge destroyed Trump’s hopes of postponing his criminal trial and called his request “untimely.”
Judge Juan Merchan issued a six-page decision rejecting Trump’s last-minute plea to delay the trial further while Trump’s team had already secured a 30-day delay.
Trump had filed the motion on March 7, which urged Merchan to postpone the trial until after the U.S. Supreme Court determines whether the presidential immunity defense applies to criminal charges against sitting or former presidents.
The former president’s legal team argued that evidence related to Trump’s correspondence during his presidency should be off-limits under presidential immunity.
The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in that case on 25 April but will likely not issue a decision for days or weeks after arguments. Merchan had already set the criminal trial date for 15 April.
Likewise, the judge pointed out that Trump had plenty of opportunities to file this motion earlier but chose not to and that he suggested a strategic delay tactic.
Trump has leaned on presidential immunity in his upcoming trials as a means of delay or dismissal, which contends that he should be shielded from criminal prosecutions for actions taken within his official duties.
In the New York criminal trial, Trump’s attorneys argued that presidential immunity should apply to specific evidence rather than the entire prosecution. Also, they claimed that Trump’s statements about his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, constituted “official communications” within his duties.
Yet, Merchan dismissed their argument and emphasized that it was filed too late for consideration. He stated that the court would not entertain the question of whether presidential immunity bars the introduction of evidence related to purported official acts in a criminal proceeding.
Previously, the infamous judge had postponed the trial by 30 days due to a dispute over potential evidence while Trump’s lawyers accused the district attorney’s office of tardiness in returning documents related to Cohen.
This month, Trump faces Merchan and prosecutors in what marks the first criminal trial against a sitting or former president.
The case involves allegations that Trump falsified 34 business records to conceal hush-money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, aimed at defeating a negative story about an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
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