The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s upcoming New York criminal trial has denied his motion to delay the start of the trial until after the US Supreme Court rules on Trump’s presidential immunity claim. Judge Juan Merchan denied the motion on Wednesday, calling it untimely and noting that Trump’s lawyers had ample time to file a motion over the issue.
In his order, Judge Merchan stated, “This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024. After all, Defendant had already briefed the same issue in federal court and was aware that the People intended to offer the relevant evidence at trial during that time. The circumstances, viewed as a whole, test this Court’s credulity.”
While Merchan previously ruled that Trump’s lawyers can object when prosecutors introduce evidence at trial that they believe is tied to presidential acts, he did not address the issue further in Wednesday’s ruling. The order stated, “The Court declines to consider whether the doctrine of presidential immunity precludes the introduction of evidence of purported official presidential acts in a criminal proceeding.”
Trump filed the motion on March 7 when the trial was initially set to begin on March 25. However, a week later, the trial was delayed to April 15 due to a tranche of documents turned over by federal prosecutors.
