The New York criminal hush money trial involving former President Donald Trump is set to commence with jury selection on April 15, according to Judge Juan Merchan’s announcement during a Monday hearing.
This rescheduled trial date follows the cancellation of Trump’s previous trial start date on March 25 earlier this month.
State prosecutors agreed to the delay after federal prosecutors provided Trump with over 100,000 pages of documents that could be pertinent to the case.
Merchan had initially indicated that the trial wouldn’t commence before mid-April.
Trump expressed his intention to pursue a postponement of the hush money trial beyond Election Day on November 5 and reiterated his desire for a complete dismissal, stating, “I shouldn’t have a trial.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces 34 felony counts related to falsifying New York business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump denies the allegation.
Trump is accused of altering records to mask reimbursement payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who made the initial $130,000 payment to Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
During the Monday hearing, Merchan dismissed claims from Trump’s legal team that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office should have obtained and provided the documents earlier.
Merchan determined that prosecutors had exceeded their obligations, emphasizing that the federal prosecutors’ office operates independently from Bragg’s office.
Trump’s legal team initially requested a 90-day trial delay to review the new documents if the case wasn’t dismissed entirely.
When this request was denied, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche sought court permission to file a motion for trial delay based on pre-trial publicity.
Merchan granted permission but reiterated that the trial is scheduled for April 15.
While the 34 felony counts carry a maximum penalty of 136 years in prison, legal experts consider such an outcome unlikely, even if Trump were convicted on all counts.
Trump faces three other criminal cases without a firm trial date: a federal and a state case from Georgia regarding alleged attempts to illegally influence the 2020 presidential election, and a federal case accusing Trump of mishandling classified documents.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of these cases.
