by ReutersDonald Trump will face a criminal trial in New York on March 25, 2024, a judge said Tuesday, meaning the former US president will go on trial as his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination gets into full swing.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records Hide secretly paying a porn starare expected to sweep across the country next spring with their rivals as states host presidential nominating contests.
Manhattan state court Justice Juan Marchan announced the date in a hearing in which Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 and the first former US president to be criminally charged, appeared remotely from Florida .
Merchen also advised Trump to place restrictions on his ability to publicly discuss certain evidence handed over by prosecutors.
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At least four screens in Marchan’s courtroom showed Trump and his attorney, Todd Blanche, seated in front of American flags.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts. In a post on his Truth social platform after the hearing, Trump said his rights to free speech had been violated.
“They forced us to have a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of the primary season,” Trump wrote in the post. “It’s called election interference.”
New York prosecutors say Trump sought to conceal reimbursements for a $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from his then-lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen has said she paid him in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter before the 2016 election she says she had with Trump, which Trump denies.
According to prosecutors, the reimbursements concealed violations of New York election law and campaign contribution limits under federal election law.
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Judge says sanctions don’t affect Trump’s campaign
During the hearing, Trump spoke only to tell the court that he had a copy of the May 8 order, which prohibits disclosing certain evidence to third parties, including news outlets and social media.
Blanche said Trump was concerned that the order violated his First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. But he said he had told his client that Merchan did not intend to obstruct his speech and that the ban was not a gag order, preventing him from speaking publicly about the matter.
Merchan said that he did not mean to restrict Trump’s ability to campaign, and that Trump “is certainly free to deny the allegations, he is free to defend himself against the allegations”.
The judge said Tuesday that Trump could be held in contempt of court if he violates the sanctions.
Trump’s ban relates to grand jury minutes, statements from witnesses and other materials that prosecutors are required to hand over to defendants in preparation for trial.
Prosecutors have said the order was needed because of Trump’s history of attacks on social media and the risk of witnesses being harassed.
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