Donald Trump‘s first criminal trial has been scheduled for April 15th, as ruled on Monday, March 25th by a Manhattan judge after he scolded the former president’s legal team for what he found to be unfounded claims of prosecutorial misconduct.
The 77-year-old former president looked somber inside the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan – as depicted in courtroom sketches obtained by Reuters, which you can check out here – as well as in pictures while he was arriving at and leaving the court. Keep reading to find out some of the things that happened in court on Monday…
Defense Claims Hush Money Case Should Be Delayed For 90 Days
The defense team claimed that the hush money case should be delayed by at least 90 days – or even thrown out entirely! – due to the late drop of documents from the DA's office that would need to be reviewed before the trial can begin, and accused the DA of misconduct for failing to turn the documents over sooner.
Judge Juan M. Merchan did not take kindly to the accusations at all, firing back that the DA's office had no duty to collect evidence from the 2018 federal investigation which resulted in Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen going to prison, and neither was the U.S attorney's office obliged to volunteer the documents.
Donald Trump's Lawyer Was Unable To Provide Any Legal Precedent For Their Argument
When asked to provide any legal precedent for their argument, Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche was unable to, leading to Judge Merchan's dressing down of the defense bench. "You're literally accusing the Manhattan DA's office and the people assigned to this case of engaging in prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don't have a single cite to support that position."
The DA's office has denied any wrongdoing and has instead blamed Trump's lawyers for waiting so long to subpoena the documents which they didn't do until January 18th, only 9 weeks before the original planned start date of the trial. Having already delayed the trial by 3 weeks, Merchan had very little sympathy for Trump's team and told them they should have acted sooner if there were additional documents they felt they needed.
What Did Donald Trump Have To Say?
The former president himself of course had a lot to say outside court, complaining about the ruling and reiterating how he believes the case is interfering with his election campaign.
"This is a case that could have been brought three and a half years ago. And now they're fighting over days because they want to try and do it during the election," Trump commented, adding: "This is election interference. That's all it is. Election interference and it's a disgrace."
A Little More Info
The prosecution claims that Trump falsely logged payments to Cohen as legal fees, when they actually believe they were payments for his involvement in covering up stories that may have damaged Trump's reputation leading up to the 2016 election. This involves the now infamous claim from adult performer Stormy Daniels that she was paid $130,000 not to go public about her sexual encounter with the former president years earlier.
Trump's lawyers maintain that these were legitimate legal expenses, despite Cohen himself pleading guilty back in 2018 and stating that Trump had directed him to make the payments, although Trump himself was not charged at the time. It looks like the past may be catching up with him now though, as we wait to see how the trial will unfold on April 15th.
This trial is the first of four that Trump could ultimately face. The second is his election interference case, which is on hold until the Supreme Court reaches a decision on his claims for immunity. The third – his Florida classified documents trial – is also likely to be put off, while the fourth case accusing him of election interference in Georgia remains to be scheduled.
