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Former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial remains on track to start April 15 after a New York judge on Friday rejected the president’s bid to delay the proceeding based on pretrial publicity. is progressing to
It’s the latest in a series of failures by Republican presidential candidates to derail a lawsuit over whether they falsified business records to conceal hush-money payments to porn stars.
Judge Juan Melchán had already rejected Trump’s request for a delay in February based on pretrial publicity. Marchan also recently rejected Trump’s request to postpone the trial date until the Supreme Court rules on whether Trump is immune from other federal election interference charges.
Trump’s latest unsuccessful bid for president pointed to a private survey that found 93% of Manhattan residents had seen media related to at least one criminal investigation facing President Trump. President Trump also said a recent documentary about adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who received hush money, threatened his ability to receive a fair trial.
Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that Daniels’ “ongoing public relations efforts related to the documentary include egregious conduct that biases jurors while lining his own pockets.” ” he claimed.
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But Marchan said Friday that the appropriate way to allay Trump’s concerns about pretrial publicity is to have a thorough and thoughtful jury selection process.
“Indeed, this remedy is supported by defendant’s own findings showing that 70 percent of New Yorkers are ‘definitely or probably’ likely to be fair and impartial,” Marchand wrote in the ruling. wrote.
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Prosecutors: President Trump is doing pretrial publicity
Marchand postponed his trial from March 25 to April 15 after New York federal prosecutors responded to Trump’s subpoena in March by producing more than 100,000 pages of documents related to the case. . But the delay was much shorter than President Trump had hoped. His lawyer asked for at least 90 days to review the documents.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said in a court filing objecting to delaying President Trump’s pretrial publicity that the former president’s “incessant comments have generated significant publicity and that the defendant has been actively involved.” It is evil to reward a defendant with an adjournment based on the amount of media attention he receives.” I’m looking for it. ”
In late March, Marchan had already issued a partial gag order to President Trump intended to protect jurors other than Bragg, witnesses, court staff, prosecutors and their staff, and prosecutors’ families. The order comes after President Trump repeatedly attacked Marchand’s daughter in posts to his millions of social media followers, giving leadership of a marketing agency that works with Democratic candidates grounds to recuse themselves from Marchand’s lawsuit. It was expanded to protect the families of Ms Machan and Ms Bragg, following claims that the law had been made public. .
Marchan had already cited an opinion from the New York State Judicial Ethics Advisory Commission, which ruled that his recusal was not justified.
In expanding the gag order, Marchan suggested that Trump’s public comments could jeopardize a fair trial.
“The average observer, upon hearing of the defendants’ recent attacks, would think that if they were even tangentially involved in these proceedings, they would not only be concerned about themselves; But also for their loved ones” Marchand wrote.
What crime is Mr. Trump being charged with?
If the New York criminal trial proceeds on April 15, it will be the first trial against a former president.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made this payment shortly after the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape. In it, President Trump vulgarly claimed that because he was famous, he could kiss women, molest them, and “do whatever.” Prosecutors have argued that Trump forced Cohen to pay hush money because he feared Daniels’ story about sexual encounters with the real estate mogul could further jeopardize his campaign. ing.
Prosecutors say Mr. Trump then reimbursed Mr. Cohen for payments made to Mr. Daniels and had the Trump Organization maintain records of the payments under false pretense that the payments were for “legal services.”
President Trump has always denied having any relationship with Daniels, who could be a key witness in the trial. President Trump has pleaded not guilty in the New York criminal case.
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