Trump’s Legal Team Seeks Delay of New York Criminal Trial to Wait for Supreme Court Ruling on Presidential Immunity
The legal team of former President Donald Trump has requested a delay in the start of his upcoming New York criminal trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on March 25, 2023. The attorneys want the trial to be postponed until after the US Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity in a related case, which may not occur until late June or early July.
Trump faces 34 counts of falsified business records for reimbursements related to hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing or affair with Daniels.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office intends to present statements and social media posts made by Trump in 2018 while he was still in office during the trial. According to Trump’s filing, his legal team has not been given sufficient notice about the extent of the evidence the prosecutors intend to present to the jury regarding these statements.
Renewing Trump’s long-standing argument on presidential immunity, his lawyers argue that Trump’s statements about Daniels and the payments to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen should be excluded from the trial since they were made in his official capacity as president.
Trump’s legal team also requested that New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan hold an evidentiary hearing after the US Supreme Court rules on the presidential immunity issue to determine which evidence related to Trump’s “official acts” should be precluded from the trial based on presidential immunity.
The motion states that despite the established concept of presidential immunity, the scope of the doctrine remains a “serious and unsettled question of law.” Delaying the trial until after the Supreme Court addresses this issue will likely simplify the application of the defense to evidentiary issues raised by the People’s motions in limine.
The upcoming criminal trial marks Trump’s first indictment to go to trial, and he faces charges for falsifying business records related to the hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels.
In summary, Trump’s legal team is seeking a delay of his New York criminal trial until after the US Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity in a related case to determine how this doctrine applies to the evidence the prosecution intends to present during the trial.
