Former President Donald Trump’s hope of having presidential immunity as a defense were dashed Wednesday as the judge presiding over the case rejected that notion.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled Trump waited too long to bring up the presidential immunity defense and denied Trump’s motion to delay the trial’s start date, NBC News reported.
Trump wanted to stave off his trial until “the U.S. Supreme Court rules on his immunity claims in the federal election interference case in Washington, D.C.,” per the outlet. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear those arguments April 25.
The presumptive GOP nominee for president also asserted that certain things that happened when he was president, such as tweets and comments, were “official acts” and therefore he should be immune from prosecution.
However, Merchan ruled that Trump should have raised that defense sooner.
“This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024” but did not, the judge wrote.
Trump wanted to keep out statements he made to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Merchan said Trump and his attorneys knew the statements made from “the alleged pressure campaign” were going to be used.
“The Defendant had ample notice that the People were in possession of, and intended to use, the various statements allegedly made by Defendant on social media, in public, and in various interviews. He was also well aware that the defense of presidential immunity, even if unsuccessful, might be available to him,” the judge wrote.
The crux of the case is that Trump allegedly falsified business records in order to pay Cohen the money to, in turn pay Daniels hush money towards the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has pleaded not guilty.
“Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, an allegation Trump denies,” per the outlet. “Trump publicly blasted both of them in 2018 after Cohen pleaded guilty to related charges.
Trump has sought to use the presidential immunity defense before. He tried the Manhattan district attorney’s case moved to federal court last year.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event. Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote in his ruling last summer.
The trial is scheduled to start April 15.
