New York (CNN) Attorneys for former President Donald Trump said Thursday they plan to try to move the criminal case against him to federal court.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told New York Judge Juan Merchan during the closing of a procedural hearing on Thursday that Trump’s legal team will file a motion later in the day to seek move the case to federal court.
The attempt to move the case to federal court appears to be a long-running effort to try to scuttle Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump, who pleaded not guilty last month to charges of falsifying business records with intent to conceal illegal conduct connected with it. in his 2016 presidential campaign.
However, the move could add an issue that needs to be litigated before a trial next year.
Elie Honig, a senior legal analyst at CNN and a former federal and state prosecutor, said the move from Trump’s lawyers is unlikely to succeed.
“While Trump may seek to dismiss a state-level criminal case in federal court, he must establish that the conduct somehow related to his performance of his official duties as president, that seems unlikely given the hush money payments related to his pre-presidential candidacy,” Honig said.
Merchan told the district attorney’s office and Trump’s lawyers on Thursday that he wants them to decide on a trial date sometime in February or March 2024, which would mean the trial would take place in the middle of the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Once the date is set, Merchan warned, the lawyers involved — and Trump himself — won’t agree to any deals that could delay the trial.
Thursday’s hearing was the first since Trump appeared in court for his arraignment last month. At the hearing, Merchan tried to resolve disputes between the two sides over a protective order that would limit Trump’s ability to disclose information about evidence from the investigation.
Merchan indicated on Thursday that he intended to maintain most of the protective order proposed by the district attorney’s office, saying it would limit the former president’s ability to speak about evidence turned over to prosecutors in the impeachment trial. discovery does not inhibit his ability to talk about. the case or defend himself as he runs for president in 2024.
“This is not an order gag,” Merchan said.
Trump’s lawyers objected to language in the protective order that limits what he can say about the case, arguing that his First Amendment rights should not be restricted as he campaigns for the presidency in 2024.
Throughout the continuum, Trump’s social media tendencies have come up in arguments, along with his presidential run.
The district attorney’s office responded that Trump has “an extensive history of making inflammatory comments” about those investigating him — including Bragg — and said Trump would not be prevented from discussing the facts. which is already in the public record.
Trump’s lawyers also oppose the district attorney’s proposed restrictions that would limit the evidence Trump can share directly from the cell phones of witnesses included in the evidence, such as Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. , a key prosecution witness.
Merchan went through the language line by line with lawyers to try to find a middle ground on how personal material from cell phones would remain hidden, while evidence related to the case could be share. The judge urged prosecutors and defense attorneys to eliminate the compromising language.
When the language for the protective order was finalized, Merchan agreed that Trump, as the defendant, should be told about its contents on the record. Defense attorneys and the district attorney’s office agreed to close the upcoming court hearing, to avoid the heavy police presence needed in lower Manhattan for Trump’s first court appearance last month.
This story has been updated with additional details.
