Photo: Brendan McDermid Associated Press Donald Trump is in principle facing a prison sentence in a case of hidden payments to an adult film actress.
Nicolas Revise – Agence France-Presse and Andréa Bambino – Agence France-Presse in New York
March 16, 2024
- United States
A New York judge on Friday postponed until mid-April the historic criminal trial of Donald Trump scheduled for March 25 in a case of concealed payments to an adult film actress, offering a new respite for the presidential candidate.
The former Republican president (2017-2021) who hopes to be re-elected in November against the outgoing Democrat Joe Biden, has been seeking for months to delay as many as four criminal trials in which he is being prosecuted.
In the case of payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels with whom Mr. Trump allegedly had an extramarital affair in 2006, “the trial is adjourned for 30 days from the date” of March 14, the court ruled. Justice of the Supreme Court (Trial Court) of the State of New York for Manhattan, Juan Merchan.
It was in fact on Thursday that Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg gave the green light for the start of the hearings to be postponed by 30 days.
Which means that this criminal trial — unprecedented for a former President of the United States and for which Donald Trump in principle faces a prison sentence — could not begin until around April 15.
“We will continue to fight to put an end to this bogus affair,” a spokesperson for the 77-year-old former head of state responded in a statement, while the New York Supreme Court will hold a preliminary hearing on March 25 to decide on a new date, according to Judge Merchan.
Respite
This provides further respite for the Republican Party candidate in the November 5 presidential election.
The Manhattan prosecutor's office said Thursday that it was “ready for a trial on March 25”, as planned, but without “opposing a postponement of up to 30 days to allow the defense to examine” new documents submitted to the procedure. Some 31,000 pages of court documents have been produced in recent days.
Donald Trump's lawyers called for “an immediate adjournment” and considered that “30 days would be insufficient given the volume of documents produced.”
The defense wanted 90 days and asked to wait for the Supreme Court in Washington to decide on the question of his presidential criminal immunity.
The businessman and political tribune has always described this Stormy Daniels affair as “phony” and denied any relationship with this woman, Stephanie Clifford, her real name.
He pleaded not guilty to charges of disguising the accounts of his real estate empire, the Trump Organization, to conceal the payment of $130,000 to Ms. Clifford, just before the November 2016 presidential election. he won.
This payment was intended to keep him silent about a sexual relationship, which they allegedly had in 2006 when Mr. Trump was already married to Melania.
In this case, he is charged with 34 accounting frauds punishable by a maximum sentence of 4 years in prison in the most serious cases.
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Recourse
Donald Trump has increased the appeals and challenges in the four criminal cases against him, with the hope of not being tried or convicted before the November election.
He has already managed to delay the federal trial in Washington that was scheduled to begin March 4 for unlawful attempts to overturn the result of the November 2020 election won by Joe Biden.
The procedure is suspended while the question of presidential immunity is decided by the Supreme Court, which will debate it on April 25 but will not rule before June or July.
The trial in Florida on the presidential records, scheduled to begin May 20, is expected to be postponed for several months, with the judge wanting a fairly spaced timetable due to the risk of overlap with other cases.
Finally, the judge in a trial in the state of Georgia for attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election in this key state on Friday rejected the prosecutor's request for withdrawal but demanded a reorganization of her team.
This decision removes an obstacle to the holding of the trial of Mr. Trump and 14 co-defendants, for which no date has been set.
On the civil side, on the other hand, Mr. Trump was heavily sentenced at the beginning of the year to fines of $355 million — plus $100 million in interest — for fraud within the Trump Organization and compensation of $83 million for defaming author E. Jean Carroll who accused him of raping her in the 1990s.