NO MORE EXCUSES: Immunity claims won’t stop Trump hush money trial, judge rules
Donald Trump was successful last month in obtaining a 30-day delay in his hush money case, but his bid for a longer delay has been denied. Barring any further changes, the trial will begin on April 15th.
Trump was arguing that the publicity in the case would affect his ability to receive a fair trial. Even jury selection, he argued, could not be done fairly at this point, because of the amount of attention the case has received.
His is hardly the first high-profile case to be tried, although as he is running for president and has already held the office once, it may be among the highest-profile. Being a loud and virtually unignorable brash public figure, though, does not equal immunity from prosecution.
Speaking of immunity, Trump also argued that the case should not continue until after the Supreme Court issues a ruling on whether, as a former president, he is entirely immune from prosecution. On Wednesday, he was granted an answer, not to the question of immunity, but to the delay: a resounding NO. The New York Times reports:
“The judge in the Manhattan case, Juan M. Merchan, ruled that the trial did not need to wait for the Supreme Court. He denied Mr. Trump’s effort as “untimely,” ruling that he failed to request the delay by a legal deadline.”
Trump had already been scolded for waiting until the last minute — or, actually, beyond it, after the deadline for such filings — to request yet another delay.
The prosecution also called out Trump’s arguments about “pre-trial publicity” as a stunt to keep the case from ever going to trial. The former president posts about the case on his social media regularly, speaks about it at political rallies, and makes certain that none of his fans ever forget it exists. The New Republic reported:
“Defendant appears to acknowledge that there is no end in sight to public coverage of this criminal proceeding, laying bare his strategy of obtaining an open-ended delay of the trial,” [District Attorney Alvin] Bragg wrote in a 38-page memo. “The answer to defendant’s complaint about pretrial publicity is thus to hold this trial sooner rather than later.”
Trump has not yet responded to the news. He was hit this week with a new and expanded gag order that further limits how he can speak about people connected to the case or their families. Judge Merchan’s latest ruling will surely put that gag order to its strongest test to date.
