Donald Trump's hush money case set for hearing before election

Hush money trial is about the amount of money he allegedly paid to Stormy Daniels, adult film star, to keep her quiet about affair with him

Former US president Donald Trump. — AFP File

The first-ever criminal trial of former US president Donald Trump is set to kick off on April 15th in the run-up to the presidential election. 

The 77-years-old former president is facing four criminal cases. The hush money trial is about the amount of money he allegedly paid to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, to keep her quiet about his affair with him. The Hush money payments were made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. 

Despite attempts by his lawyers to delay or dismiss the case, the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, ruled on Monday that the trial must start on April 15th. 

Trump's lawyers said that they need more time to look at these documents. But the judge doesn't seem convinced by their arguments.

Despite pleading not guilty to all 34 charges, Trump argued that the claims against him don't constitute a crime. Talking to the reporters after spending time with his attorneys in the courtroom, he's even gone as far as calling the case "election interference," and vowed to appeal the decision.

"It's a disgrace, and we will obviously be appealing," he said. "But this is a pure case of voter intimidation and election interference, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen."

However, things took an unexpected turn when thousands of documents related to the federal investigation into the payments were suddenly released last week. This led to a delay in the trial proceedings as the court examined whether any misconduct had occurred in the document release.

Trump's legal team raised concerns about the timing and volume of the document dump, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. "We got the material a week ago," Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, said. "We're still going through them."

But Justice Merchan remained unconvinced, as he questioned the validity of their claims and expressed impatience with their arguments.

"You're literally accusing the Manhattan DA's office, and people assigned to this case, of engaging in prosecutorial misconduct and trying to make me complicit in it," Justice Merchan said.

"It's odd that we're even here and that we've taken this time," he said before adjourning for a break.