Donald Trump's legal strategy of delay, delay, delay delivers a win and a loss: ... trends now
In decades as a New York property developer, landlord and public figure, Donald Trump's legal strategy had three prongs: Delay, then delay and delay again.
That approach met its match Monday morning in the form of Judge Juan M. Merchan who is overseeing Trump's trial on charges related to hush money payments to a porn star.
He brushed aside Trump's defense lawyers, who said they needed more time to prepare and accused prosecutors of deliberately keeping them in the dark, and ordered the trial to start April 15.
'That you don't have a case right now is really disconcerting because the allegation that the defense makes in all of your papers is incredibly serious. Unbelievably serious,' Merchan said in his Manhattan courtroom.
'You're accusing the Manhattan district attorney's office and the people involved in this case of prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don't have a single cite to support that position.'
Former President Donald Trump sat with a stony face in Manhattan criminal court on Monday morning. He was told he will go on trial on April 25, facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. His legal team had requested more time to prepare a defense
Trump is charged with hiding $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels for her silence, part of an effort to prevent voters learning about their alleged affair during his 2016 presidential campaign
For any political figure, the exchange would have been an extraordinary way to start a week that should have seen them out campaigning for the White House.
For Trump, it was just one of two cases playing out in New York.
A state appeals court up the road delivered him a victory of sorts. It gave him financial breathing room in a $454 million civil fraud case, allowing him to avoid losing assets if he can post a smaller $175 million bond within 10 days.
And he still had time to compare himself to Jesus on social media. All before lunch.
The net result is that he won one delay but lost another.
The hush money case will go ahead in three weeks time. It may turn out to be the only one of four criminal cases that begins before the election.
Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law professor, said on X: 'A big win for justice, a huge loss for Trump's strategy of delay, delay, delay.'
Trump's lawyers had asked for a delay of at least 90 days over what they said were 'violations' by prosecutors in turning over documents.
The former president is charged with hiding $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels for her silence, part of an effort to prevent voters learning about their alleged affair during his 2016 presidential campaign.
