NEW YORK: A New York judge has denied Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star until the US Supreme Court reviews claim to presidential immunity in a separate criminal case.

The court is scheduled to hear the former US president’s arguments that he is immune from federal prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden on April 25.

His defence lawyers in the New York case in March asked Justice Juan Merchan to delay the trial until that review was complete, arguing it was relevant because prosecutors were seeking to present evidence of statements Trump made while he was president from 2017 to 2021.

In a court ruling on Wednesday, Merchan said Trump had waited too long to raise the issue. “Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” Merchan wrote.

Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Trump, declined to comment.

Trump, the Republican candidate to challenge Biden in the Nov 5 election, has pleaded not guilty in each of the four criminal indictments he faces.

The New York case could be the only one to go to trial before the election.

He is accused of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.

Trump denies any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Trump is also seeking a delay on the basis that a deluge of news coverage of the case has led potential jurors to believe he is already guilty.

Prosecutors with Manha­ttan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which charged Trump in 2023, opposed that request in a court filing made public on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2024