Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday asked the presiding judge in his New York hush-money case to delay the start of the trial until the Supreme Court rules on whether he is immune to prosecution for acts he committed while president.
In the filing, defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that a favorable Supreme Court ruling would affect which evidence prosecutors can provide to the jury. He said prosecutors plan to present evidence from the period when Trump was in office, which wouldn’t be allowed if the Supreme Court rules in his favor on immunity.
“The People’s recent proffer implicates presidential immunity because President Trump was President of the United States at the time of those actions in 2018. He made at least some of the 2018 statements at issue— and potentially all of them, though it is hard to be sure in light of the People's vague in limine description—in his official capacity as the nation’s Chief Executive,” Blanche wrote.
Last April, Trump pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records related to an alleged hush-money payment his then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent to porn actress Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election. The money was meant to silence Daniels on her alleged affair with Trump, prosecutors said. The trial is set to begin March 25.
