Trump’s first criminal trial set to begin March 25 as judge denies bid to dismiss “hush money” case

A New York judge denied former President Donald Trump’s request to dismiss criminal charges related to a “hush money” payment and said his trial would proceed as scheduled on March 25, delivering a blow to Trump’s efforts to delay what would be the first trial of any former president in U.S. history.

Trump is attending a pretrial hearing in the case, which involves the circumstances surrounding a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. A grand jury voted to indict Trump on March 30, 2023, charging him with 34 felony counts of falsification of business records. Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty. He has repeatedly accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pursuing the case for political gain.

Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges at the beginning of the hearing. “At this point I can inform you that we’re moving ahead with jury selection on March 25,” he told the court. He later said he expected the trial to last about six weeks.

The hearing in the Trump “hush money” case

Trump’s attorneys immediately protested the judge’s decision to proceed to trial, saying they expected to be able to discuss timing at the hearing. Todd Blanche, one of the key members of Trump’s legal team, said the decision was a “grave injustice” and pointed to the former president’s various other legal entanglements.

“We have been faced with compressed and expedited schedules in every one of those trials,” Blanche told the judge. “We — meaning myself, the firm and President Trump — have been put into an impossible position.”

Merchan set a preliminary trial date of March 25 at a hearing last May, but there had been no other public proceedings in the case since then, and Trump’s attorneys had sought to have the charges thrown out.

Once it became clear that Merchan would not delay the trial, Blanche and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass debated the questions that would be posed to screen potential jurors. Most of the questions related to what news outlets they consume and whether they were members of fringe groups, like antifa or the Proud Boys. Prosecutors acknowledged that several questions were taken directly from the jury selection process in the defamation trial against Trump brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll.

One such question Steinglass proposed asking potential jurors was: “Do you believe that the 2020 election was stolen?” He argued that an answer in the affirmative would indicate “an unwillingness to follow the facts and kind of just blindly follow” what Trump says.

Speaking outside the courtroom before the hearing got underway, Trump said the case represented a “great double standard” and “election interference.”

“There was no crime here at all. This is just a way of hurting me in the election because I’m leading by a lot,” he told a crush of cameras. “They want to rush it because they want to get it desperately before the election. … They wouldn’t have brought this — no way — except for the fact that I’m running for president and doing well.”

The former president acknowledged that he was trying to delay the beginning of the trial, and said the proceedings were taking him off the campaign trail.

“We want delays, obviously, I’m running for election,” he said. “How can you run for election when you’re sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long? I’m supposed to be in South Carolina right now.”

What is Trump accused of?

Trump is accused of participating in a scheme to falsify records to hide a series of payments to his former “fixer” and lawyer Michael Cohen. The payments, prosecutors allege, were reimbursements for a hush money payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She has alleged she had an affair with Trump, and agreed to keep quiet in exchange for $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election.

Trump’s lawyers have denied the payments to Cohen were part of a cover-up, saying Trump was reimbursing the former lawyer for legal expenses.

The former president’s legal troubles have only grown in the months since the last hearing in the case, and his calendar has filled up with court dates. He’s been charged in three other criminal proceedings: federal cases in Washington, D.C., and Florida, and a state case in Georgia. He has pleaded not guilty in all three.

Trump chose to attend the hearing in New York instead of one in Georgia, where a judge is hearing evidence related to allegations that District Attorney Fani Willis and that case’s special prosecutor Nathan Wade improperly used public funds while pursuing a romantic relationship. Both have confirmed the relationship but denied any financial conflict. The Georgia case involves accusations that Trump and others conspired in an attempt to thwart 2020 election results in the state.

The federal case in Washington, which revolves around Trump’s attempts to overturn President Biden’s 2020 presidential election win, was originally scheduled for March 4, but that date is now on hold as Trump appeals a rejected presidential immunity claim to the Supreme Court. Merchan said he had discussed the trial schedules with U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is set to oversee Trump’s trial in D.C. if it is allowed to move forward.

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