Donald Trump has suffered another legal defeat on Monday as the judge overseeing his case involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels declined to delay the trial over evidence concerns, displeased with the former US president’s lawyers’ allegation of prosecutorial misconduct.
“Jury selection in this matter will commence in 21 days, on April 15,” Judge Juan Merchan said in a ruling from the bench.
After grilling the Trump attorney on his legal team’s claims, the Judge said, “It’s odd that we’re even here.”
Merchan had scheduled the hearing to determine whether the presumptive Republican presidential candidate’s recent receipt of more than 100,000 pages of discovery documents merited yet another delay.
Trump’s lawyers had asked Judge Juan Merchan to delay the trial at least 90 days, or dismiss it, over what they called “violations” in the discovery process as they claim Manhattan state prosecutors did not follow legal requirements to disclose evidence to them when due.
However, the prosecutors insist that they had followed with discovery law and that Trump’s lawyers were responsible for the delay.