Trump fails to delay New York hush money trial

NEW YORK — Former President Trump’s lawyers failed Thursday to delay his first criminal trial, spoiling Trump’s goal to delay his various prosecutions until after he has a shot at returning to the White House in November’s election.

A New York judge set Trump’s hush money trial to begin with jury selection on March 25 after the judge rejected the former president’s bid to toss the case or delay the timeline.

During a hearing that turned fiery at times, Trump’s lawyers condemned the schedule, claiming it amounts to election interference and impedes Trump’s ability to campaign in the remainder of the primary season.

A stone-faced Trump made no audible comments while inside the courtroom, but he did whisper to his lawyers and appeared to egg them on. In the hallway outside, the former president immediately went to the cameras and made his frustration clear.

“​​Instead of being in South Carolina and other states campaigning, I’m stuck here. It’s an election interference case. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it in this country. It’s a disgrace, it’s a disgraceful situation actually,” Trump said in remarks upon leaving the courtroom.

“And we’ll just have to figure it out. I’ll be here during the day, and I’ll be campaigning during the night.”

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, who had paid multiple women to stay quiet about affairs they claimed to have had with Trump. Trump denied the affairs and pleaded not guilty.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) case marked the first-ever indictment of a former president. And now, it is poised to become Trump’s first-ever criminal trial in less than six weeks from now.

The hush money indictment is notably not subject to a presidential pardon, unlike Trump’s federal criminal cases.

It’s a striking blow for Trump, who for decades has made delaying legal cases against him a tried-and-true strategy. His attorneys have consistently looked to postpone proceedings in all four of Trump’s criminal prosecutions.

In some of those cases, the former president has had initial success.

Legal experts believe his classified documents case is likely to be delayed from its May trial date, no date has been set yet for Trump’s Georgia election subversion trial, and in Washington, D.C., Trump’s federal election subversion trial was sidelined as Trump began appealing his immunity claims.

But it is Trump’s success that enabled his hush money trial to remain on track for March 25.

That date was scheduled months ago, but many legal observers had believed it would slip after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan scheduled Trump’s D.C. trial for the same month.

At the time, Chutkan indicated that she was in communication with Trump’s hush money judge, Juan Merchan, about the conflict. Prosecutors in the hush money case also signaled they would be OK with taking a backseat.

But when Merchan walked into his courtroom Thursday, he quickly made it clear things had changed.

The D.C. trial has been shelved as Trump’s immunity fight lands at the Supreme Court. The justices’ ruling, which could come at any moment, will have outsized influence on when the case can proceed.

“As you know, there’s a lot of moving parts in the D.C. case,” Merchan said Thursday. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen.”

After Merchan said the delay there meant Trump’s hush money trial would proceed in the meantime, Trump attorney Todd Blanche urged the judge to reconsider. Things quickly became heated.

The former president appeared to egg his attorney on, with Blanche walking over to whisper with his client at multiple points.

Blanche at one point told the judge that Trump had reminded him of something, but Blanche said he’d save it for the end of the hearing. When the judge later started to wrap up and asked Blanche if he had anything else to raise, the attorney got fired up.

“We strenuously object to what is happening in this courtroom,” Blanche began.

Blanche again pointed to Trump’s primary calendar.

“It should not happen in this country. It shouldn’t,” he said.

“What’s your legal argument at this point?” Merchan inquired, before declaring to Blanche it wasn’t one.

Merchan then adjourned the hearing, telling the parties, “See you March 25.”

Trump then exited the courtroom, slowly walking down the center aisle.

As he passed by the last row, a member of the public sitting there began to clap until court officials quickly shushed him. The individual told The Hill earlier in the day that he was also in the courtroom when a jury delivered its $83 million verdict in Trump’s recent defamation trial.

Trump looked over and gave a slight smile, and then headed to the cameras.

Updated 6:21 p.m.