A judge Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's bid to delay his April 15 hush-money criminal trial until the Supreme Court rules on the presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan deemed the former president's request untimely, ruling that his lawyers had myriad opportunities to raise the immunity issue before they finally did so in a March 7 court filing, the AP reports. Lawyers for the presumptive Republican nominee had asked to adjourn the New York trial indefinitely until Trump's immunity claim in his Washington, DC, election interference case is resolved.
Merchan previously chided Trump's lawyers for missing a filing deadline, waiting until 2½ weeks before jury selection to raise the immunity issue and failing to "explain the reason for the late filing." Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers argue some of the evidence and alleged acts in the hush-money case overlap with his time in the White House and constitute official acts. The ruling clears the way for the case to become the first of four criminal prosecutions against Trump to go to trial, Bloomberg reports. Merchan rejected a separate bid to delay the trial last month. (On Monday, the judge expanded a gag order in the case to include remarks about his family members.)
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