CNN
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The choose presiding over former President Donald Trump’s upcoming New York prison trial denied his motion to delay its begin till after the US Supreme Court docket guidelines on Trump’s presidential immunity declare.
Decide Juan Merchan denied the movement Wednesday calling it premature and noting Trump’s legal professionals had months to file a movement over the difficulty.
“This Court docket finds that Defendant had myriad alternatives to lift the declare of presidential immunity nicely earlier than March 7, 2024,” the order says. “In spite of everything, Defendant had already briefed the identical situation in federal courtroom and he was in possession of, and conscious that, the Folks meant to supply the related proof at trial that complete time. The circumstances, considered as an entire, take a look at this Court docket’s credulity.”
Merchan beforehand dominated that Trump’s legal professionals can object when prosecutors introduce proof at trial that they consider is tied to presidential acts however didn’t deal with the difficulty additional in Wednesday’s ruling.
“The Court docket declines to contemplate whether or not the doctrine of presidential immunity precludes the introduction of proof of purported official presidential acts in prison continuing,” the order says.
When Trump filed the movement on March 7, the trial was nonetheless set to start on March 25. Every week later the trial was delayed to April 15 over a tranche of paperwork turned over by federal prosecutors.