The president’s legal team was reportedly pushing for a motion to dismiss.
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said on Feb. 15 that former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial would proceed with jury selection starting on March 25.
President Trump’s attorneys blasted the decision to keep the March date, complaining that Trump will have to stand trial in New York at the same time as he is attempting to sew up the Republican nomination.
“It is completely election interference to say ‘you are going to sit in this courtroom in Manhattan,” said defense lawyer Todd Blanche. “What about his rights.”
The March 25 date places the trial in the middle of the campaign season, just weeks after Super Tuesday. President Trump’s D.C. trial was set to start on March 4, just a day before Super Tuesday, but got postponed due to his appeal related to presidential immunity.
Noting that he resisted defense lawyer urgings from months ago to postpone the trial, Judge Merchan said: “I’m glad I took that position because here we are — the D.C. case did not go forward.”
President Trump arrived at the courthouse on Thursday and made remarks outside the courtroom.
Just before the hearing, he criticized the prosecution as a form of election interference. “Heading to yet another courthouse in Manhattan on a case that would have never been brought if I wasn’t running for Pres. The Biden DOJ has its top person here in charge,” he said in a TruthSocial post.
“Case should have never been brought, there is no crime. They want it before [the] election. Could have been brought 3 years ago. They waited until the election period.”
Outside the courtroom, President Trump similarly derided as “election interference” the case he’s facing.
“This is not a crime, and when you look at what’s going on outside on the streets, where violent crime is at an all time high, I think it’s a very very — it’s a great double standard,” he said.
He added that “this is a real dark period for our country.”
By Sam Dorman
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