Ex-President Donald Trump's hush-money trial — 1st of 4 cases pending against him — to start March 25, judge rules

A Manhattan judge set a March 25 trial date on Thursday for the hush-money case against Donald J. Trump — the first of four pending criminal cases against the former president.

Judge Juan Merchan denied the motion from Trump’s legal team to toss the 34-count indictment stemming from what prosecutors charge was an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election by covering up payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in exchange for their silence regarding extramarital affairs.

The March date would put the New York case ahead of two federal cases, one in Florida regarding the unlawful retention of classified documents and the other in Washington, D.C., stemming from the former president’s alleged role in the attempted insurrection on January 6. A fourth case moving forward in Georgia accuses Trump of undermining the 2020 presidential election through the submission of fake electors.

The former president’s lawyer Todd Blanche protested the March date, saying it would deny Trump his right to a fair trial.

“It’s a great injustice,” Blanche said.  He said his client has to prepare for the other three trials and run for President of the United States.

“We are in the middle of primary season; it’s a different landscape,” Blanche said, pointing out that the case could drag into the summer months.

“There are 42 primaries and caucuses during that time period,” he said.

Blanche also argued that the recent press coverage of the sexual assault civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll and the state case filed against the Trump Organization by the attorney general alleging business fraud would deprive the former president of a fair trial.

He suggested a May trial date, when “media saturation” dies down.

“Do you think media saturation will have died down then?” Merchan asked, to chuckles in the courtroom.

Blanche estimated the D.C. case could start in June, leaving little time for Trump and his lawyers to prepare after the end of the New York case.

“You don’t have a trial date in Georgia; you don’t have a trial date in D.C.,” Merchan said. “He’s not going to be in more than one criminal trial at the same time.”

The mostly pro forma hearing turned briefly tense after Blanche talked over the judge.

“Stop interrupting me,” Merchan snapped.

A pending perjury investigation against the Manhattan district attorney’s key witness, former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, creates another reason for delay, Blanche said. Cohen admitted during testimony in the attorney general’s civil fraud case that he lied to Congress in 2019 when he denied Trump told him to inflate the president’s personal finances.

“How can we possibly go to trial with a witness who committed perjury two months ago?” Blanche asked.

Prosecutors said that they were ready to go to trial.

“I don’t want to violate his constitutional rights, nor does anyone else,” the judge said. “But given facts of this case, we’re moving to jury trial on March 25.”

The facts of the case have been widely reported.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Trump conspired with the former CEO of American Media Inc., which publishes the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer, to suppress any stories that could damage his chances of being elected to the White House.

The publisher, David Pecker, admitted in a nonprosecution agreement that he and Cohen paid three people willing to publish information about the former president’s extramarital affairs in order to keep the information from the voting public, according to the district attorney’s office.

Trump, Cohen and Pecker hatched a plan that included setting up shell companies and using pseudonyms to keep information about the affairs out of the media, according to prosecutors.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 and served three years in federal prison and in home detention for violating federal campaign finance laws by paying Daniels for her silence.

On Thursday, Trump entered the courtroom with a solemn look on his face. He surveyed the members of the media seated in the gallery and threw a nod to CNN contributor Jeffrey Toobin, pointing at him as he walked by.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also attended the hearing.

In April, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felonies in a historic arraignment as it was the first time an American president, former or sitting, was charged with a crime.

“Wow,” Trump wrote on his social media platform before the arraignment. “Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”