Defeat for Donald Trump: Judge Denies Immunity

Donald Trump wanted to delay the hush money investigation surrounding porn star Stormy Daniels. Now a judge in New York has refused to grant him immunity.

NEW YORK – Donald Trump has suffered a setback in one of his court cases. Judge Juan Merson, who is presiding over the criminal trial in the hush money case surrounding porn star Stormy Daniels in New York, rejected Trump's request to delay proceedings until the Supreme Court decides on the question of presidential immunity. The former US president and 2024 Republican candidate has already made this argument in all other tests.

Bitter Defeat for Donald Trump: Judge Denies Application for Immunity – Money Trial Comes

Merson justified his rejection of Donald Trump's request as untimely, saying in his decision that “the defendant has countless opportunities to assert presidential immunity, which experts view with skepticism, before March 7, 2024,” among other things. The New York Times reported. Accordingly, the former President did not seek an adjournment within the statutory time limit.

Decided on Merchan US Portal Forbes Application not submitted on time. Therefore, the judge continued, he would not consider whether presidential immunity would prevent the “introduction of evidence purporting to be acts of the President.”

Defeat for Donald Trump: Stormy Daniels' application in hush money probe dismissed

It removed one of the last hurdles to the first criminal prosecution of a former US president. He asked the judge to delay the hearing until the Supreme Court rules on whether Trump is immune from prosecution for official actions he took while president. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments this month, but may not rule until June.

Trump's request to delay the trial is his latest attempt to delay four of his criminal investigations, which are playing out against the backdrop of his campaign for the White House. If Trump wins the presidency by delaying the measures until Election Day, they will stall. The following proceedings await Trump, the first president in US history to be indicted under criminal law:

• State-level impeachment in New York: A matter of money
• Federal indictment in Florida: Secret documents affair
• State-level impeachment in Georgia: Attempted election fraud
• Federal indictment in Washington, DC: Conspiracy against the United States

Recently, Trump engaged in a controversial April Fool's joke and announced that he was suspending his campaign. However, the joke turned out to be a questionable fundraising appeal, which made headlines a few days ago because Trump shared a video of Joe Biden tying up the current US president.

Donald Trump's application rejected in New York: Hush money trial begins April 15

Some of his tactics have worked. In Florida, where Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents, a Trump-appointed judge has yet to set a final trial date. In Washington, DC, where a special prosecutor is accusing the former president of trying to rig the 2024 election, the Supreme Court has paused the process while it considers the immunity issue.

In the Manhattan case, Trump, whose cognitive abilities are deteriorating according to an expert, received a three-week reprieve from late March to mid-April after new investigative documents emerged. But Trump wanted to further delay the process. His attorneys demanded a 90-day delay or the case be dismissed entirely, blaming prosecutorial misconduct for the last-minute disclosure of the documents.

That allegation carried little weight with Judge Merchan, who recently confirmed April 15 as the opening date and criticized Trump's legal team.