Trump Hush Money Criminal Trial Set to Begin March 25 in Manhattan – The New York Times
Trump Hush-Money Case
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Justice Juan M. Merchan will preside over a Manhattan trial in which Donald J. Trump is accused of disguising payments to a porn star. It would be the first trial of a former president.
Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess and
Two presidential campaigns ago, Donald J. Trump faced a brewing sex scandal that threatened to derail his bid for the White House.
On Thursday, a New York judge ensured that the very same scandal will loom over Mr. Trump’s latest run for president, scheduling for March 25 a trial that could jeopardize his campaign — and his freedom.
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, rejected Mr. Trump’s bid to throw out the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal charges against him that stem from a hush-money payment to a porn star in 2016. By setting a trial date for next month, Justice Merchan cleared the way for the first prosecution of a former American president in the nation’s history, ensuring that Mr. Trump will face at least one jury before Election Day.
The ruling is a crucial victory for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg. He said he was “pleased” by the judge’s decision and was looking forward to the trial, where Mr. Trump is facing 34 felony charges and, if convicted, a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Justice Merchan’s decision will reorient the public perception of Mr. Trump’s convoluted legal conundrum, drawing the nation’s bleary eyes to Manhattan. Overall, the former president is facing 91 felony counts across four criminal indictments from prosecutors in Washington, Florida and Georgia, as well as Manhattan, all while he seeks to lock up the Republican presidential nomination. Never before has a former president wrestled with even one criminal indictment.
Until recently, Mr. Trump’s federal case in Washington was first on the calendar. That case, in which the former president is charged with plotting to overturn the 2020 election, is widely thought to be the most consequential of the Trump criminal prosecutions. But the Thursday hearing cemented the reality that the Manhattan trial will soon begin.
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