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Donald Trump (on April 7th)
Photo: Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich / EPA
Delay, delay, prevent - this roughly sums up the tactics used by former US President Donald Trump's lawyers in the various legal proceedings. The calculation is likely to be on the presidential election in November, with Trump as the possible winner. His legal representatives are therefore doing everything they can to buy up as much time as possible with new tricks.
Now, however, Trump has suffered a setback in court. A New York appeals court on Monday rejected his request to postpone the April 15 criminal trial over hush money payments to a porn actress. With the request, Trump tried to move the case out of Manhattan and thus delay the trial.
The criminal proceedings against Trump regarding a hush money payment to a porn actress are taking place in the middle of the election campaign. This means that the jury will almost certainly decide on the guilt or innocence of the Republican and presidential candidate before the election at the beginning of November. The 77-year-old denied any guilt in the trial, as in all his legal proceedings.
The indictment against Trump was brought by a grand jury. They accused him of falsifying business documents related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. His former lawyer Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 for her silence about a sexual encounter with Trump. According to her account, this is said to have taken place in 2006.
Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with the woman - real name Stephanie Clifford. However, he admitted to reimbursing Cohen for his payment to her.
Possible lawsuit against the judge
Apparently Trump is also planning to sue the judge responsible, Juan Mercan. This is reported by the New York Times, citing court documents that are not yet public. Merchan recently imposed a gag order on Trump. According to the US newspaper, the planned action has little chance of success.
The documents submitted by Trump's team remain sealed. The latest maneuver by Trump and his team to remove the judge in his hush money case was a malicious attempt to delay his upcoming trial and circumvent the gag order, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
The Republican is actually tied in the election polls with the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden. On November 5th, the Americans will elect their new president.
jok/Reuters