Shouldn’t most of Trump’s trials be underway by now? It’s hard to believe we have been hearing about Trump’s 91 felony counts (recently reduced to 88) for years now and he has yet to be in an actual trial (besides the one regarding his business fraud, which he is already appealing.) The status of his legal problems changes almost daily. I found the trial updates below, and it’s a good summary of where things with two of his trials are at as of today, April 4th, 2024. (Just Security also has a great and more detailed list of all his trials and motions etc.)
Just yesterday the judge in the “hush money” case rejected Trump’s presidential immunity claims, saying Trump waited too long to raise the defense. Sorry Donny, you screwed up again.
New York hush money
Judge denies Trump motion to delay start of trial
Key players: Judge Juan Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, adult film star Stormy Daniels, United States Supreme Court
- Merchan denied a last-ditch motion by Trump’s lawyers that sought to delay the start of the hush money trial by 90 days or dismiss the charges outright on the grounds that the United States Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether presidential immunity protects Trump from prosecution, USA Today reported.
- In his ruling, Merchan stated that Trump had waited too long to pursue the presidential immunity claim in the hush money case.
- “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 he was in possession of, and aware that, the People intended to offer the relevant evidence at trial that entire time. The circumstances, viewed as a whole, test this Court’s credulity,” Merchan wrote.
- Some of the evidence that will be used in Bragg’s case against Trump was gathered when Trump was president and his lawyers argue that it should not be permissible in court.
- The trial on charges that Trump broke New York state tax and campaign finance laws when he paid Daniels $130,000 to hide an alleged extramarital affair from voters in the 2016 election begins on April 15.
- The Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 25 on whether presidential immunity protects Trump from being prosecuted for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Why it matters: With Monday’s ruling expanding Trump’s gag order and Wednesday’s rejection of Trump’s request for a delay, Merchan has signaled that he has lost patience with the former president’s tactics in the case.
Classified documents
Smith asks Cannon to drop ‘flawed’ jury instructions or face appeal
Key players: Special counsel Jack Smith, Judge Aileen Cannon
- Late Tuesday, Smith issued a stern rebuke of Cannon’s “fundamentally flawed legal premise” when she asked lawyers in the case for potential jury instructions that appeared to side with Trump’s argument that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) justified his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House, the Associated Press reported.
- “If the Court wrongly concludes that it does, and that it intends to include the PRA in the jury instructions regarding what is authorized … it must inform the parties of that decision well in advance of the trial,” prosecutors wrote.
- Smith, who has charged Trump with violating the Espionage Act, argues in the filing that the PRA does not apply in this case since the crimes Trump is accused of committing took place after he was president.
- Trump’s lawyers have countered that the PRA allows a president to distinguish certain documents as “personal records” even after leaving the White House and that Trump never knowingly retained classified documents that did not fall under that category.
- Smith’s filing also warns Cannon that if she does not retract her request for jury instructions regarding the PRA, prosecutors are prepared to obtain a “writ of mandamus” to force her to do so.
- A writ of mandamus, according to the Justice Department, can be used “to require a lower court to enforce the judgment of an appellate court.” In this case, Smith would ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to issue one should Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump, not reverse course.
- The 11th Circuit has already overruled Cannon’s moves in the case so far.
Why it matters: While Smith has not gone so far as to seek to remove Cannon from the documents case, Tuesday’s filing is the clearest sign yet that he sees her as an obstacle to the prospect of obtaining a fair trial for the former president.
