US judge sets date in March for historic Trump trial over hush money
Prosecutors in the hush money case say Donald Trump's New York-based family real estate company recorded his 2017 violated a state law against falsifying business records to conceal another crime.
Trump's lawyer said he might try to move the trial out of Manhattan, where the former US president is likely to face a liberal-leaning jury pool. / Photo: AP
Donald Trump will become the first former US president to stand trial on criminal charges after a New York judge denied his request to dismiss an indictment stemming from hush money paid to an adult movie star and set a March 25 trial date.
Justice Juan Merchan's ruling during a hearing in Manhattan means that Trump will stand trial on Thursday in at least one of the four criminal cases he faces as he pursues the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump, 77, had asked Merchan to toss the 34-count indictment, which charges him with falsifying business records to cover up the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Merchan took less than 10 minutes to deny his request and confirm the trial date.
Ahead of the hearing, Trump repeated his claims that the case is politically motivated: "They wouldn't have brought this except for the fact — no way — except for the fact that I'm running for president and doing well."
A handful of protesters held signs denouncing Trump and shouted "no dictators in the USA" outside the courthouse.
Violating federal campaign finance laws
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. The trial is set to start before Trump's three other criminal cases.
The case centres on former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels to prevent her from publicly speaking ahead of the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating federal campaign finance laws.
Trump may effectively have wrapped up the Republican nomination by the time the trial is scheduled to start.
He has won the first four state nominating contests. Dozens more will have taken place before the trial date. Opinion polls show him with a wide lead over his lone remaining primary challenger, Nikki Haley, and effectively tied with Biden.
But one in four Republicans and about half of independent voters have indicated they would not vote for Trump if he is convicted in any of his four criminal cases, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.
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