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On Monday, former President Donald Trump requested a postponement of his criminal case, which alleges that he paid hush money to a porn star, until the US Supreme Court completes its review of his claim of presidential immunity in a separate case.
Scheduled to commence on March 25, the trial marks the first criminal trial of a former US president and is slated to occur in a New York state court in Manhattan. Trump has entered a plea of not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
According to prosecutors, Trump instructed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to maintain silence about an alleged sexual encounter from the mid-2000s before the 2016 election. They assert that Trump then falsely categorized his reimbursement to Cohen as legal expenses. Trump refutes any involvement in an encounter with Daniels.
In the court filing, Trump’s legal team argued that the outcome of the Supreme Court’s review is pertinent to the hush money case, as prosecutors seek to employ statements made by Trump while he was president as evidence.
Trump has endeavored to postpone the four forthcoming criminal trials he faces until after his November 5 election rematch with President Joe Biden, although attempts to dismiss them outright have failed.
Recently, the Supreme Court granted Trump a victory by agreeing to hear his argument that he is shielded from federal prosecution for attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat. This hearing will delay the commencement of any trial related to the charges by several months.
Additionally, the Supreme Court ensured Trump’s inclusion on Colorado’s primary ballot, rejecting a bid to disqualify him the day before the contest.
Trump has characterized the criminal cases as politically motivated and instances of “election interference,” maintaining a not guilty plea for all charges.
In February, prosecutors indicated their intention to introduce evidence of a “pressure campaign” by Trump in 2018 to dissuade Cohen from cooperating with a federal investigation into the payment to Daniels. Cohen pleaded guilty that year to violating campaign finance law.
In their court filing on Monday, Trump’s legal team labeled the prosecutors’ claim of a pressure campaign as “fictitious,” asserting that Trump’s social media posts about Cohen constituted “official communications” on “matters of public concern” and therefore were immune from state prosecution.
Trump advanced a similar argument last year in an attempt to transfer the case from state to federal court. However, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the motion in July 2023, stating that the payment to Daniels “was a purely personal item.”
“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts,” Hellerstein wrote.
