Trump seeks delay in New York hush money trial

NEW YORK - Donald Trump on Monday asked the New York judge presiding over his hush money case to delay the trial until the US Supreme Court rules on his claim of presidential immunity.

Trump, 77, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is scheduled to go on trial in Manhattan on 25 March on charges of falsifying business records.

In a motion filed Monday, Trump's attorneys asked Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to adjourn the state trial until the nation's highest court rules on the former president's immunity claim.

The Supreme Court is to hear arguments in the immunity case on 25 April and is not expected to issue a ruling until late June or early July.

Trump's lawyers have sought repeatedly to delay his various trials until after the November presidential election, when he could potentially have all of the federal cases against him dropped if he wins.

The former president faces 34 counts of accounting fraud linked to pre-election payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

While the payments date to before the 2016 election, Trump's attorneys said prosecutors intend to introduce evidence dating from his time in the White House.

This raises the question of presidential immunity, they argued, because "Trump was President of the United States at the time of those actions in 2018."

"Therefore, President Trump respectfully submits that an adjournment of the trial is appropriate to await further guidance from the Supreme Court," they said.

The hush money case dates to the closing days of the 2016 election when Trump was on the cusp of his shock win as a political outsider against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 over the payments made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Prosecutors say the money was paid to silence Daniels over claims she had a tryst with Trump in 2006 - a year after he married Melania Trump, a former model.

Late in the campaign, Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen arranged a payment of $130,000 to Daniels in exchange for her pledge of confidentiality.

'FALSE ACCUSATIONS'

Meanwhile a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll, the magazine writer Trump was found by a New York jury to have sexually assaulted and defamed, raised the possibility of bringing a third defamation case against the real estate tycoon.

Trump was ordered to pay $83 million to Carroll in January after being found guilty for a second time of defamation.

Despite being twice found liable, Trump continued to attack Carroll in recent days, claiming over the weekend that he was the victim of "false accusations."

"The statute of limitations for defamation in most jurisdictions is between one and three years," Carroll's lawyer, Robbie Kaplan, said Monday.

"As we said after the last jury verdict, we continue to monitor every statement that Donald Trump makes about our client, E. Jean Carroll."

Trump also faces charges in Washington of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden. That trial is on hold pending a ruling by the Supreme Court in the immunity case.

And he faces racketeering charges in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the election in the southern state.

The former president also faces federal charges in Florida for allegedly refusing to give up top secret documents after leaving the White House.