Less than two weeks before the planned start of the criminal trial against former US President Donald Trump in connection with hush money payments to a porn actress, the start of the trial has been postponed. The trial, which was actually scheduled to begin on March 25, will be postponed by 30 days; an exact start date still needs to be fixed, judge Juan Merchan decided.
Instead, only a hearing will take place on March 25th, where the matter will be discussed in more detail. “There are significant factual issues for the court to resolve,” Judge Merchan said in his reasoning. To date, there has never been a criminal trial against a former US president in history.
Both Trump’s lawyers and the public prosecutor’s office had asked the court in New York for a postponement. At a hearing in mid-February, Judge Merchan actually confirmed that the trial – as set last year – should begin on March 25 with jury selection. The public prosecutor’s office initially did not comment after the decision.
Trump sees himself as a victim of a “witch hunt”
For Trump, who will be re-elected US President in November and wants to delay the many trials against him as much as possible, the postponement is a success. “We will continue to fight to end this fraud,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for his campaign team, said after the decision, according to US media reports. All trials against Trump are part of a “witch hunt” that was commissioned by the current US President Joe Biden. A total of four criminal trials against Trump are currently being prepared, and the ex-president and his lawyers have already successfully blocked or delayed some of them. In addition, several civil lawsuits are ongoing and others have already been concluded.
Trump’s lawyers had initially asked for the New York trial to be postponed because they were awaiting a decision from the US Supreme Court regarding the ex-president’s possible immunity from prosecution. The Supreme Court accepted Trump’s appeal on the issue of possible immunity at the end of February and is planning a hearing at the end of April.
The public prosecutor’s office, in turn, announced a few days later that it was prepared to let the trial begin as planned on March 25, but was also not opposed to a “short adjournment that does not exceed 30 days.” The reason for this is tens of thousands of pages of newly arrived documents that may be relevant to the process and still need to be examined. Trump’s lawyers then also cited these documents as additional reason for a postponement – and even requested a postponement of 90 days.
Porn actress received $130,000 in hush money
In his postponement decision, Judge Merchan mainly addressed and followed the prosecution’s argument. Merchan demanded that it be clarified how the documents could have been sent so late.
The case primarily revolves around a hush money payment of $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels – the money flowed in 2016 shortly before Trump was elected president. She had claimed that she had had sex with him. Trump denies an affair, but does not deny that money was flowed. Non-disclosure agreements between two parties are not illegal. However, Trump is accused of illegally recording the payments, trying to conceal them illegally and thereby trying to cover up other violations of the law. The ex-president has pleaded not guilty.
