A New York City judge denied former President Trump’s request to dismiss charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into hush-money payments ahead of the 2016 presidential election and formally announced the trial will begin next month.
The trial is now scheduled to begin with jury selection on March 25, and Judge Juan Merchan said the trial is expected to last 6 weeks.
Trump appeared in a New York City courtroom Thursday morning for a hearing.
Bragg indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in April. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
COURT DATES AND PRIMARIES: TRUMP FACES COMPETING CALENDARS IN 2024
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg had been investigating former President Trump for alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. (Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images/Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump and his attorneys sought to have the case dismissed altogether, but Judge Merchan on Thursday denied the request.
Before entering court, Trump blasted Bragg for rising crime in New York City, and the case.
“I’m here for something, it’s not a crime, it’s election interference and it’s being run by Joe Biden’s White House,” Trump said, calling it a “terrible time for our country. A real dark period.”
Trump went on to say Biden has “accomplished nothing.”
Trump said he should be out campaigning, instead of in court, ahead of the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24.
When pressed on when he will campaign during the trial, Trump replied: “I’ll do it in the evening.”
The trial will take place just after the Louisiana primary and ahead of April 2, when Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin voters hit the polls to select a GOP nominee.
Bragg alleged Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
TRUMP SLAMS BRAGG AFTER PLEADING NOT GUILTY: ‘I NEVER THOUGHT ANYTHING LIKE THIS COULD HAPPEN IN AMERICA’
The charges are related to alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Stormy Daniels reacted to former President Trump’s arraignment with an X-rated tweet. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images/Photo by Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)
In 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO 34 FELONY COUNTS OF FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS LINKED TO 2016 HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
Former President Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court April 4, 2023, in New York City. (Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)
The Bragg indictment was the first against Trump last year. He was then charged in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into classified records, Smith’s investigation into 2020 election interference and Jan. 6 and in Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After the hearing Thursday morning, Trump is expected to travel back to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.