Former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial will start with jury selection on April 15, Judge Juan Merchan said Monday.
The new trial date comes after Merchan wiped Trump’s previous March 25 trial start date from the books earlier this month. State prosecutors consented to a delay after federal prosecutors sent Trump more than 100,000 pages of documents this month that may be relevant to the case. Merchan initially said in response that a trial wouldn’t begin before mid-April.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying New York business records in order to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump has denied that claim.
Trump allegedly falsified records so as to conceal the real purpose of reimbursement payments to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who made the initial $130,000 payment to Daniels soon before the 2016 presidential election.
Merchan held a hearing Monday to address Trump’s request to throw out the entire case based on the documents that came from federal prosecutors, which Trump’s lawyers argued should have been obtained and turned over by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office earlier. At least some of the documents relate to Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal tax and campaign finance crimes in 2018 and may be called by state prosecutors in the hush money case. The judge said the hearing would also address a new trial date “if one is necessary.”
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The 34 felony counts technically carry a maximum penalty of 136 years in prison, but legal experts say nothing near that is realistic, even if Trump were convicted on all counts.
Trump faces three other criminal cases with no firm trial date: a federal case and a state case from Georgia over whether Trump illegally attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election, and a federal case alleging Trump mishandled classified documents. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of his criminal cases.
