Washington — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's criminal case in
New York rejected his last-minute bid to delay the start of the trial until after the U.S.
Supreme Court rules on Trump's presidential immunity claim. Trump had asked to push back the start date for his trial, which is related to a "hush money" payment made by an attorney for Trump to adult film star
Stormy Daniels before the 2016
election, until after the Supreme Court rules on whether he is shielded from criminal prosecution by "presidential immunity" in another one of his criminal cases. The trial is slated to begin April 15 . Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan denied the request Wednesday, saying it was "untimely" and that Trump's lawyers had months to raise the issue before the motion was filed in March. "This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024," Merchan wrote. "Defendant could have done so in his omnibus motions on September 29, 2023, which were filed a mere six days before he briefed the same issue in his Federal Insurrection Matter and several months after he brought his motion for removal to federal court on May 4, 2023." Merchan noted in his ruling that pre-trial motions are supposed to be filed within 45 days of arraignment. Trump was arraigned in this case last April. The judge also said that the fact that Trump had waited until "a mere 17 days prior to the scheduled trial date of March 25, 2024, to file the motion, raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion." Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsification of business records tied to payments reimbursing his then-attorney
Michael Cohen, who had paid the adult film star. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies all wrongdoing.