The case is due to start on April 8th…..
The judge seems intent on that date, bit probably will delay for week or so
He chewed on the Trump people in his court room today…..
Donald J. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial on charges that he covered up a sex scandal will start on April 15 after a judge on Monday denied the former president’s attempts to delay it further.
For roughly an hour, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, slammed arguments from Mr. Trump’s lawyers that his case should be pushed back any longer because of newly disclosed documents from a related federal investigation. After a 45-minute break, he returned to the courtroom, said that no harm had been done to the former president by the delayed disclosure and set the new trial date.
“Defendant has been given a reasonable amount of time,” the judge said, crisply, referring to Mr. Trump.
The ruling — nearly a year to the day after the Manhattan district attorney’s office accused Mr. Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels — makes it all but certain that he will go on trial next month. Even as three other criminal cases against him remain mired in appeals and delays, he will be the first American president to stand trial.
After the hearing, Mr. Trump pledged to appeal the judge’s decision, attacking the district attorney’s case as “election interference.”
The trial had originally been set to begin on Monday but Justice Merchan delayed it until April 15, citing the documents from federal prosecutors who previously investigated his longtime former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who made the payment and is expected to be a star witness against Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers, casting the disclosure as evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, asked Justice Merchan to delay the trial 90 days, or throw out the case altogether. The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, argued against further delays, saying that the new materials are largely irrelevant or duplicative.
On Monday, the judge sided with Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors. He suggested that Mr. Trump’s lawyers were dragging their feet and scolded them for what he said were unsubstantiated allegations made against the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
“You are literally accusing the Manhattan D.A.’s office and the people assigned to this case of prosecutorial misconduct and trying to make me complicit in it,” the judge exclaimed.
Almost from the beginning, Justice Merchan seemed skeptical of the arguments of one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche. He pressed him on the number of documents the defense thinks are relevant, saying, “I just want to get a sense of how much time you need.”…
…
Judge Juan Merchan got heated with Trump attorney Todd Blanche after the judge asked him to cite a singular past case holding the district attorney’s office is obligated to have had the documents from the U.S. attorney’s office previously.
“If you don’t have a case right now is really disconcerting because the allegations the defense makes in all of your papers, about the people’s misconduct, is an incredibly serious, unbelievably serious,” Merchan said, raising his voice.
“You’re literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office and the people assigned to this case of prosecutorial misconduct and trying to make me complicit in it. And you don’t have a single cite to support that position?”
Update ,,,,
A Manhattan judge ruled that Donald Trump’s “hush money” criminal trial will begin on April 15 with jury selection.
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Judge Merchan to Trump’s team: “That you don’t have a case right now is really disconcerting.”
“You are literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office and the people assigned to this case of prosecutorial misconduct.” Merchan says Trump’s team doesn’t have a single example to support that allegation.
@MSNBC
This IS NOT a damn Trump ‘Victory’……
Oh, Wait!?
This SURE sounds like a guy who is dancinga round a ‘VICTORY”?
Former President Trump fumed Monday over his legal troubles after a New York judge scheduled an April 15 start date for his hush money trial despite Trump’s efforts to postpone the case.
Trump, speaking down the street from the Manhattan courthouse after the judge’s ruling, railed against the 2016 hush money case and his legal problems more broadly as a matter of “election interference” that should not be allowed during a campaign season…..
….
Trump broadly decried the cases against him as “election interference” and connected them all to President Biden, though there is no evidence Biden has played any role in the numerous legal proceedings….
More…
Update….
Judge in Trump criminal case ain’t taking anymore shit from Trump lawyers with delaying motions
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The judge presiding over Trump’s NY criminal case REFUSES to budge from his order forcing lawyers to ask his okay to file any more motions.
He also WARNS Trump’s lawyers to obey that order, citing his “power to punish for a criminal contempt.”
Doc https://nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/pdfs/PeoplevDJT-Dec-on-Motion-to-Vacate.pdf
…
Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
“[Trump], either directly or through counsel, has repeatedly stated publicly that the defense goal is to delay these proceedings, if possible, past the 2024 presidential election.”
…Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The order suggests that Trump’s lawyers are skating on thin ice about their compliance with the judge’s order to seek permission to file, which he says they “disregarded” in the past.
(Why do I think Trump is gonna be the First American ex-President to be a convicted felon?)
And there is more……
Judge Places Limited Gag Order on Trump
The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money case in New York has granted the Manhattan district attorney’s request for a limited gag order on the former president, ABC News reports.
Politicalwire
Is the Big guy having fun yet?