Trump’s first criminal trial will start March 25, judge says

Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial will start on March 25 as scheduled, a judge said in New York on Thursday as he denied Trump’s attempts to throw out the charges. The case involves hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The schedule means Trump will spend weeks in court instead of on the campaign trail as he pivots to a general election against President Joe Biden.

"At this point, I can inform you that we’re moving ahead to jury selection on March 25,” Justice Juan Merchan said at the opening of a pretrial hearing in Manhattan.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to the hush money payments, which Trump arranged through an intermediary in the closing weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. The payments covered up Daniels’ allegation that she had a sexual encounter with Trump.