Judge refuses to delay Donald Trump hush money trial over immunity claim
- The ex-US president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s US$130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels
- The Supreme Court is reviewing Trump’s claim in a separate case that he is immune to prosecution
A New York judge on Wednesday denied Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star until the US Supreme Court reviews claim to presidential immunity in a separate criminal case.
The court is scheduled to hear the former US president’s arguments that he is immune from federal prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden on April 25.
His defence lawyers in the New York case in March asked Justice Juan Merchan to delay the trial until that review was complete, arguing it was relevant because prosecutors were seeking to present evidence of statements Trump made while he was president from 2017 to 2021.
In a court ruling on Wednesday, Merchan said Trump had waited too long to raise the issue.
“Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” Merchan wrote.