MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump wants a New York judge to delay his upcoming criminal trial until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on his presidential immunity arguments in another case.
The former president is slated to stand trial starting March 25 on charges of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. But Trump now argues that the trial needs to be pushed, claiming the impending Supreme Court decision could change which evidence is allowed to be brought in by prosecutors.
“President Trump respectfully submits that an adjournment of the trial is appropriate to await further guidance from the Supreme Court, which should facilitate the appropriate application of the presidential immunity doctrine in this case to the evidence the people intend to offer at trial,” Trump claims in the filing.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan hasn’t yet issued a ruling on Trump’s longshot ask. Should he grant it, the trial will likely be delayed for months.
The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on April 25 over Trump’s claims that he should be immune from prosecution for actions he engaged in while president. A ruling isn’t expected until June.
Trump suggested that moving ahead with the trial as scheduled would open the court up to “unnecessary risk,” pending the Supreme Court ruling.
“The adjournment would also ‘avoid the unnecessary risk of inconsistent adjudications as to the defenses asserted' by President Trump in state and federal courts relating to the presidential immunity doctrine,” Trump argued.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump last year in a 34-count indictment over reimbursements made to his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen that Bragg claims exposed the hush money scheme. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In Monday’s filing, Trump argues some of his tweets about Cohen should not be presented to the jury on those presidential immunity grounds.
“The New York Times and a third-rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will ‘flip,’” Trump said in one 2018 post.
Trump argues that posts like this are “official acts” he took as president and prosecutors should be precluded from introducing them as evidence.
“The court should preclude the people from offering evidence at trial that your honor determines, following a hearing outside the presence of the jury, constituted an ‘official act’ during President Trump’s first term in office,” Trump added.
Prosecutors claim that these tweets were part of a 2018 “pressure campaign” from Trump to prevent Cohen from cooperating with investigators. But Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
Cohen may testify against Trump at this trial too, despite efforts from Trump’s legal team to keep him from doing so. Trump has repeatedly called Cohen a “liar” and claimed that he perjured himself in Trump’s recent civil fraud case.
Prosecutors chided those efforts last week, calling them “intentionally inflammatory and totally meritless.”
“The people expect Cohen’s testimony at trial to be both true and corroborated, including by extensive documentary evidence, the testimony of other witnesses, and defendant’s own statements,” prosecutors said.
Monday marked the first time that Trump tried a presidential immunity defense in the hush money case. But he has already claimed to be immune from criminal prosecution in his two federal cases: on charges he mishandled classified documents after his presidency and for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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