United States: The judge in the Trump hush money case pushed the beginning of the trial in New York back by 30 days on Friday after it was requested that thousands of pages of new documents be presented.
This means that the trial will now start at the beginning or at least mid-April, which is just seven months ahead of the next presidential elections.
More about the case
Trump, with the separate criminal trial for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential elections, requested a 90-day postponement in his hush-money trial.
He opted to allow the Supreme Court to resolve the matter on a question of whether presidents can be charged with criminal conduct once their terms are over, as he is still the ex-president.
Supreme Court’s April hearing
In April, Supreme Court is going to hear the oral arguments about either Trump is safe from criminal prosecution when he was a president, also the actions were performed when he was a seated incharge in his office.
However, as per Trump, the hush money trial should not start until after its ruling because he believes the Manhattan District Attorney’s office might try using evidence from when Trump was in office to make its case, as Forbes reported.
The case was brought against Trump by the DA’s office, and they said that on Thursday, they would agree to a 30-day delay as the federal prosecutors meant to take a close look at a huge bunch of documents that they had only just received. That Trump opposed even the 30-day delay was not surprising.
Merchan decided that the trial will be postponed for 30 days from the date of his judgment, and moved the next hearing for March 25, when he will also consider Trump’s other motion to throw out the indictment.
He will also provide during the March 25 hearing what new start date for the trial will be if he denies the suit to dismiss.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson, said that Trump and his legal team “have been consistent and steadfast in that this case has no basis in law or fact,” reiterating Trump’s request to have the case dismissed.
What more is awaiting?
Machan’s Amazon ruling made Friday possible that the beginning of the trial would be not earlier than mid-April (at least) presuming the 30-day delay and the case trial didn’t get postponed again.
It is expected that trial would begin next week and last for about six weeks depending on the total number of witnesses and other evidential processes, as the Forbes reported
Due to possible delays, this case can collide with some other trials of Donald’s as prosecutors intend to have the first of them done before the elections, which are taking place in November.