Donald Trump will face first criminal trial against Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ claims
A judge ruled against the former president's motion to dismiss the case, US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
Donald Trump will face his first criminal trial, accusing him of paying hush money to an adult movie star and former Playboy model.
The New York County Supreme Court dismissed the former US presidents attempt to have a criminal case thrown out and will now go ahead as planned on March 25.
He appeared in Manhattan criminal court to hear the ruling on Thursday.
The case, which filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in March last year, alleges he falsified business records to cover up payments.
It centres on payoffs to two women, porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both allege they were paid to keep quiet about affairs with Trump.
Trump denies the sexual encounters.
His lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 (£103,257) and arranged for the publisher of the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid to pay McDougal $150,000 (£119,143).
Trump’s company then paid Cohen $420,000 (£333,601) and logged the payments as legal expenses, not reimbursements, prosecutors said.
Bragg charged Trump last year with falsifying internal records kept by his company, the Trump Organisation, to hide the true nature of payments.
Trump was indicted by a grand jury last March on 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime.
The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison, though there is no guarantee that a conviction would result in prison time.
Trump’s legal team has argued that no crime was committed.
It comes in the ramp up of the US general election, which could see Trump claim enough delegates to become the presumptive Republican nominee before the trials start date.
While Trump may effectively bring an end to the Republican nominating fight, the court proceedings could disrupt the former president’s pivot to a general election matchup with President Joe Biden - dividing his attention between his legal battles and his presidential campaign.
When leaving the courtroom Trump told reporters “instead of being in South Carolina and other states campaigning, I’m stuck here.”
“We’ll just have to figure it out,” he added. “I’ll be here during the day and I’ll be campaigning during the night.”
In fact, Trump has repeatedly attended court proceedings where his presence was not required.
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