On Wednesday, a court in New York denied the petition of the former president Donald Trump to postpone his criminal trial pending the Supreme Court’s decision on his wide presidential immunity claim.
In a March court filing, Trump brought up the point and asked Judge Juan Merchan to postpone the trial until the Supreme Court made a decision on the application of presidential immunity in a different Trump case involving allegations of federal election meddling.
Merchan countered that Trump brought up the issue too late. The trial is set to start on April 15. On April 4, 2023, more than a year prior, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of fabricating company documents.
In the verdict on Wednesday, Merchan stated, “This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024.”
This indicates that even though Trump has thus far been able to reschedule or cancel trial dates in other criminal matters, he is scheduled to face his first criminal trial this month.
Todd Blanche, the attorney for Trump, and Bragg’s office remained silent.
The Supreme Court decided to examine the extent to which past presidents are exempt from criminal punishment for actions taken while in office in the federal election interference case.
The main question at stake in the New York lawsuit is whether Trump committed a crime by forging company papers to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels from his former attorney, Michael Cohen, prior to the 2016 presidential election. Daniels consented to keep silent in return for the money.
In New York, if the disguise was used to perpetrate or cover up another crime, the offense of falsification is elevated to a felony.
That applies to Trump, according to the prosecution, because he broke federal election regulations pertaining to the cap on campaign contributions.
They have mentioned that Cohen was sentenced to prison following his guilty plea to making an unauthorized contribution to a political party through the payment. Additionally, they claim that Trump attempted to break tax and election rules in New York.
In his federal election interference case, Trump contended that the Supreme Court’s reexamination of the reach of presidential immunity would lessen the likelihood of a retrial since the New York court had improperly applied the theory. Oral arguments before the Supreme Court are set for April 25.
The Court will then have the option of when to make a ruling.
Merchan, however, stated on Wednesday that Trump decided to wait until much later to bring up the presidential immunity defense.
This is because New York law gives defendants 45 days to file pre-trial motions following their arraignment, which is the first court appearance at which a plea is entered. On April 4, 2023, the day he was indicted, Trump was arraigned.
Trump additionally demanded that some evidence—such as social media posts regarding the payments to Cohen and Cohen’s readiness to assist prosecutors—be excluded from the New York case on the grounds of presidential immunity.
In a court brief, he claimed that his Twitter account served as the primary means for the White House to carry out official business, making the posts there protected official acts.
Merchan said in a footnote that Trump didn’t seem to be making the point that the Trump Organization’s record-keeping or Cohen’s payment to Daniels, two purported facts supporting the allegations in the hush money case, raise a presidential immunity claim.
