Former President Donald Trump will attend a hearing Thursday that is expected to determine a timetable for the trial in the New York hush money case against him, his lawyer said Tuesday.
"President Trump will be attending court in New York on Thursday," one of Trump's attorneys, Steve Sadow, said in a statement.
Sadow is representing Trump in the Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case and provided the statement after he was asked whether Trump would attend a key hearing Thursday in the Georgia case.
New York Judge Juan Merchan's hearing on Thursday, where he will also address Trump's motions to dismiss the case, will likely shape the first felony trial against the former president. Last year, the judge decided that the trial would begin on March 25, though that date seemed to be up in the air because of charges facing Trump in the federal election interference case.
In New York, Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential bid. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Thursday is also a crucial day for another one of Trump’s criminal cases. The judge in the Fulton County election interference case will be holding a hearing on the misconduct claims Trump and one of his co-defendants have made against District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Judge Scott McAfee said at a hearing Monday that it’s “possible” Willis could be disqualified from prosecuting the case if he finds that Willis benefitted financially from their relationship. Willis admitted earlier this month that the two have had a personal relationship, but denied that their relationship was improper.
“District Attorney Willis has no financial conflict of interest that constitutes a legal basis for disqualification,” her office said in a filing. “District Attorney Willis has no personal conflict of interest that justifies her disqualification personally or that of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Two judges in separate courtrooms just minutes down the street from one another could deal serious blows to Donald Trump, his business and his campaign schedule this week.
On Thursday, a judge in Manhattan criminal court will preside over a hearing that could set a course for the former president’s trial on charges stemming from hush-money payments to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign.
The judge overseeing a separate civil fraud trial that could imperil his family business and brand-building empire is also imminently expected to issue a final judgment in that case, with potentially tens of millions of dollars in sanctions and the end of his real estate career in New York at stake.
A court official told The Independent that a decision in that case would be due by mid-February. People familiar with the matter suggested to The New York Times that a decision would come one day after Mr Trump’s criminal court date.
Mr Trump has already faced two massive civil trials in Manhattan this year. A federal jury determined he owes E Jean Carroll more than $83m for repeatedly defaming her after denying that he sexually abused her in the 1990s.
The civil fraud case targeting Mr Trump, his two adult sons and their chief business associates also came to a close last month after 11 weeks of witness testimony. State Attorney General Letitia James, whose blockbuster lawsuit sparked the trial in New York County Superior Court on Centre Street, is seeking $370m in so-called “ill-gotten gains” and an order that would block the former president from the state’s real estate industry for life.
Mr Trump started his week in Florida, where he attended closed-door hearings on Monday to review sensitive materials in a federal case stemming from his alleged criminal mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago.
The criminal case in Manhattan has largely remained quiet compared to months of court filings and hearings in the three other criminal cases against him, and a mountain of litigation threatening his business and potential disqualification from 2024 ballots – a challenge that is now at the US Supreme Court.
In April, a grand jury under Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with repayments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged a hush-money scheme to prevent the release of potentially damaging stories about it.
Mr Trump, Mr Cohen and David Pecker, the former owner of the National Enquirer, allegedly worked in concert to “identify, purchase, and bury negative information” about then-candidate Trump to boost his electoral prospects,” according to prosecutors.
The alleged payments were used to cover up sex scandals involving adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a “conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election,” according to prosecutors. See more
On Thursday, Judge Merchan is expected to rule on Mr Trump’s motion to dismiss the case altogether, after which he is likely to arrange a trial date.
The court has reportedly relied on movements from the federal election conspiracy case – arguably the most serious against the former president – before firming up a timetable, and Mr Bragg has suggested he would not stand in the way of that trial moving forward first.
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