instructions from the judge
Date for Trump’s hush money trial is set
05/24/2023 02:34 am
Donald Trump wants to be re-elected US President in November 2024 – but before that he still has a few court dates. During a video switch in the hush money criminal proceedings, the morose-looking Republican has to listen to admonitions about handling evidence.
Former US President Donald Trump is due to appear in court just about eight months before the US presidential election. The start of his trial in connection with hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels has been tentatively set for March 25, 2024, the broadcasters CNN and CNBC report. The responsible judge Juan Merchan emphasized at a court hearing, to which Trump was connected via video, that he did not want to prevent the accused from campaigning in any way.
Trump had to listen to warnings about handling evidence at the hearing. Merchan warned Trump that he cannot release sensitive documents that prosecutors are giving his attorneys to prepare for the trial. When asked by the judge whether he had received a corresponding written order, the morose-looking ex-president replied with a short “yes, I have”. The 76-year-old Republican shook his head when the judge warned him that violators could face a contempt of court penalty.
Trump is also prohibited from revealing the names of certain associates of Manhattan’s chief attorney general, Alvin Bragg, before the trial begins. In principle, however, he may post information on online platforms that is already public knowledge or has been compiled by his lawyers.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts in New York since the beginning of April: The public prosecutor’s office accuses the Republican of falsifying business documents. He said he wanted to hide harmful information and illegal activities before and after the 2016 presidential election in order to improve his voting chances. Under New York election laws, it is a criminal offense to conspire to advance a candidate in an election by illegal means.
Trump’s lawyers are busy
The background to the case is above all that Trump had paid $ 130,000 in hush money to the porn actress Stormy Daniels shortly before his election as president. She had claimed she had sex with him. Trump denies an affair, but not that money flowed. Confidentiality agreements between two parties are not, in and of themselves, illegal. However, Trump is accused of illegally recording the payments, attempting to conceal them illegally and thus wanting to cover up other violations of the law. The candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election had pleaded “not guilty”.
Trump is also currently dealing with courts in several other cases. In early May, a New York jury found it proven that Trump had assaulted and sexually assaulted US author E. Jean Carroll in a New York luxury department store in 1996. The criminal allegations are statute-barred, but Carroll had legal recourse under civil law. The jury also ordered Trump to pay the 79-year-old a total of five million dollars (around 4.56 million euros) for defamation.
Trump appealed the verdict – and again spoke disparagingly about Carroll in a CNN interview after the verdict. She then expanded another lawsuit for defamation about these statements by Trump, as US media reported unanimously. Accordingly, she is now demanding another “very substantial” sum.