(New York) A New York judge on Friday postponed until mid-April the historic criminal trial of Donald Trump scheduled for March 25 in a case of concealed payments to an adult film actress, offering a new respite to the presidential candidate.
The former President of the United States (2017-2021) who hopes to be re-elected in November against the outgoing Joe Biden has been seeking for months to delay as much as possible the opening of the four criminal trials in which he is being prosecuted.
In the case of payments to a former porn star, Stormy Daniels, with whom Mr. Trump allegedly had an adulterous affair in 2006, “the trial is adjourned for 30 days from the date” of March 14, ruled New York State Supreme Court Justice for Manhattan Juan Merchan.
It was in fact on Thursday that Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg gave the green light for the proceedings to be postponed for 30 days.
Which means that these criminal hearings which promise to be unprecedented – and for which Donald Trump in principle faces a prison sentence – could begin in mid-April.
PHOTO DAVE SANDERS, NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Prosecutor Alvin Bragg
“We will continue to fight to put an end to this bogus affair,” reiterated one of Donald Trump’s spokespersons, Steven Cheung, in a press release.
Respite
The Supreme Criminal Court will meet in a preliminary hearing on March 25 to decide on a new date, according to Judge Merchan.
This offers a new respite to the Republican candidate for the November 5 presidential election.
The Manhattan prosecutor’s office said Thursday that it was “ready for a trial on March 25”, as planned, but without “opposing a postponement of up to 30 days to allow the defense to examine” new documents submitted to the procedure. Some 31,000 pages of new court documents have been produced in recent days.
“An immediate adjournment is necessary,” argued Mr. Trump’s defense while estimating that “30 days would be insufficient given the volume of documents produced.”
The lawyers of Donald Trump, 77, even wanted a 90-day postponement and had asked to wait for the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington to decide on the question of his possible criminal immunity as ex-president.
The businessman and political tribune has always described this Stormy Daniels affair as “phony” and denied any relationship with this woman, Stephanie Clifford, her real name.
He pleads not guilty and is accused of having disguised the accounts of his real estate empire, the Trump Organization, to conceal the payment of $130,000 to Mr.me Clifford, just before the November 2016 presidential election which he won.
This payment was intended to keep him silent about an alleged sexual relationship, which they had in 2006 when Mr. Trump was already married to Melania.
The former president is charged in this case with 34 accounting frauds, punishable by a maximum sentence of 4 years in prison in the most serious cases.
Appeal
Donald Trump has increased the appeals and challenges in the four criminal cases against him, with the hope of not being tried or convicted before the November election.
He has already managed to delay the federal trial in Washington which was to begin on March 4 for illicit attempts to reverse the result of the November 2020 election, won by Joe Biden.
The procedure is suspended while the question of presidential immunity is decided by the Supreme Court, which has set the debates on this question for April 25 and is not expected to rule before June or July.
The trial on the presidential archives, initially scheduled for May 20, will probably be postponed for several months, Judge Aileen Cannon wanting a sufficiently spaced timetable to allow “flexibility”, in particular because of the possibility of overlap with the other matters.
Finally, the judge in the trial in the state of Georgia for illegal attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election on Friday rejected the prosecutor’s request for dismissal but demanded a reorganization of her team.
This decision removes a major obstacle to the holding of the trial of the ex-president and his 14 co-defendants, for which no date has yet been set.