A New York judge dismissed his contentions of presidential immunity in his hush money case on Wednesday. The judge ruled that Trump's defense was raised too late, eventually denying his argument.
Judge Juan Merchan's ruling eliminates another avenue for Trump to prolong his imminent hush money trial, which is scheduled to be the first criminal trial of a former president on April 15.
Trump's Bid for Immunity Rejected
Trump hasn't declared protection from the 34 allegations of paying hush money which date back to before he was elected president. He has, however, maintained that if the Supreme Court supports his claims of immunity in a different case, likely trial evidence may be left out.
Trump wants to postpone the trial until the Supreme Court rules on the basis of his claim for immunity. The date of the oral arguments is April 25. Trump's move was met with opposition from Manhattan District Attorney's office prosecutors.
The whole request of the defendant is denied due to its lateness. In a criminal case, evidence of alleged official presidential activities may not be included due to the concept of presidential immunity, according to Merchan.
The judgment says, "This Court finds that Defendant had numerous opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024."
Jury selection for the criminal trial involving hush money transactions given to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign is set to start on April 15. To all of the accusations, Trump has entered a not guilty plea.
Merchan earlier decided that Trump's attorneys may raise objections when prosecutors present evidence in court that they feel has relevance to the president's actions, but he did not go into greater detail in his decision on Wednesday, according to CNN News.
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Trump's Bid for Trial Delay Denied
Trump's attorneys said in latest documents that the trial ought to be postponed indefinitely until the case's "prejudicial media coverage" disappears.
Additionally, they argue that the liberal borough's prosecutors are "attempting to give jurors an opportunity for a referendum" on Trump's victory in that election by attempting to present the case on the 2016 election.
On Wednesday, prosecutors resisted that, claiming that media attention to the historic trial of the former president is "unlikely to recede" at any moment. They attributed the notable exposure to Trump's "own incessant rhetoric," saying that it would be "perverse" to give him a delay "based on media attention he is actively seeking."
The jury selection procedure, says to the charges, will let both sides select an unbiased jury since it includes extra questions meant to screen out potential jurors who may be biased.
Trump's attorneys previously asserted presidential immunity in an unsuccessful attempt to have the hush-money lawsuit transferred from state court to federal court last year, but Merchan, in his order on Wednesday, said it was hard to believe that Trump hadn't brought up the immunity issue sooner.
Trump's argument that the allegations in the hush money accusation contained official responsibilities was rejected by the US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who said in a July ruling that "the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely personal item of the President a cover-up of an embarrassing event."
The payment of hush money to an adult film actress has nothing to do with a president's official duties. Hellerstein continued, "It does not in any way represent the color of the President's official duties".
There is no clear legal precedent on whether a former president is exempt from federal prosecution for actions made while in office.
In the Washington case, the prosecutors have made clear that there is no such immunity and that none of the conduct mentioned in the indictment qualify as official acts. Both a federal appeals court and the trial judge in Washington have rendered decisions against Trump, AP News reported.
