Judge sets April 15 trial date for Trump hush money case

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - A state judge in New York set on Monday April 15 as the trial date for ex-President Donald Trump's hush money case to begin.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan denied Trump's attempts to further delay the case during morning courtroom proceedings, ruling the former president "has been given a reasonable amount of time" to prepare his defense, according to multiple media reports.

The ruling came after Merchan questioned Trump's attorneys on the request for a delay for about an hour, oftentimes clashing directly with the defense team as he shot down argument after argument they put forward to justify a postponement.

The trial, which is centered on allegations of falsifying business records, was originally set to begin in March, but Merchan granted a 30-day delay earlier this month. It is now all but certain to proceed in three weeks.

Trump has sought to stall each of the cases against him, including the hush money case, ahead of November's general election where he is all but certain to compete against President Joe Biden in a 2020 rematch.

The criminal case centers around allegations that Trump falsified his company’s records to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election to suppress claims that they had an extramarital affair years earlier.

The $130,000 hush money payment was allegedly filtered through the former president's business to hide the true nature of the payment and given to his then-attorney Michael Cohen who paid Daniels.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payments to Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

They are part of 91 state and federal criminal charges the former president faces, including trying to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia, his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and illegally taking classified documents from the White House.