How Trump's D.C. court delay could backfire in his New York hush money trial

Donald Trump's lawyers have spent the better part of the year trying to delay his cases for as long as he can under the assumption that if he is elected to the presidency in 2024 he can demand the Justice Department drop the cases against him. That means his hush-money case in New York jumps into first.

One of those two federal cases is now on hold after the appeals court for Washington, D.C. ruled that there would be a "stay" until they ruled on whether Trump has absolute immunity. The D.C. appeals court has already ruled that in a civil capacity, Trump does not enjoy immunity. However, both Michael Cohen's case at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the D.C. appeals court question whether actions in his capacity as president have immunity.

In Cohen's case, he alleges that Trump used his position to attempt to silence his former lawyer against speaking to the press or writing a book. When Cohen refused, he was allegedly thrown into solitary confinement.

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Judge Tanya Chutkan's case was slated to go first in the schedule. Hers is the federal case involving the attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the attack on the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. Judge Aileen Cannon has her own efforts to slow down the classified documents case in which Trump is accused of taking information, refusing to return it, and obstructing justice to keep it.

In November, Cannon ruled that Trump couldn't stop the May 2024 trial date, but the reality is that she is delaying all of the pre-trial motions to such a degree that likely means the trial will never happen in May. As Politico explained at the time, the delays without specifically saying there would be a delay means other cases are stuck in a kind of limbo waiting around for hers.

Cohen doesn't think that will be the case in the state trials, however.

"The outcome of his immunity claim — it's really a bogus immunity claim — does not benefit Trump the way he thinks it does," Cohen told Raw Story on Thursday. "All that this now provides is the opening for Alvin Bragg to move forward with the March 24 state criminal trial against Trump."

Bragg made it clear that his case would take a backseat to the federal ones. While the Trump team might be cheering the delays, it now opens Bragg up to move forward. The date is currently set for March 25 after Trump's lawyers objected to the January trial date.

Trump then tried to have the case dismissed last month.

Bragg is going after Trump for his role in the hush money scheme involving the payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. While Cohen faced a number of charges around the incident and was sent to prison and eventually home confinement, Trump faced no consequences. Cohen was purportedly the go-between paying off Daniels on behalf of Trump.

Cohen's own recordings make it clear that Trump wanted a bag of cash to be given to another affair accuser, former model, Karen McDougal. In that case, National Enquirer's David Pecker used his parent company, AMI, to funnel money to McDougal under the guise that she would write physical fitness articles as part of staying silent for Trump. Pecker never faced any accountability for his alleged role either. Pecker did appear before the grand jury in March 2023.

In Fulton County, Georgia, Fani Willis has indicated that she's more than ready to move forward with her racketeering case involving Trump and other co-defendants. While some, like Sidney Powell and Ken Chesebro, are cooperating with the prosecutors after a plea deal, the rest are headed to trial.

"Oh, we would be ready and willing," Willis told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution this week. "I always say, 'Stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready.'"

The AJC remarked that the Aug. 5, 2024, trial date the team suggested for the case would begin just a few weeks after the Republican Party officially has its nominee. The Aug. 5 date was chosen to be “respectful of our sister jurisdictions."

The Washington appeals court tends to move slowly, meaning the decision could delay that 2020 case for six months or more.

Like Willis, Bragg has made it clear he's ready to go to trial as soon as possible. It appears he could be the first.

Meanwhile, Trump's civil trial for fraud will be decided not long after the first of the year.