Trump faces ‘unfair’ hush money trial during primaries

DONALD TRUMP will go on trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case in the middle of the Republican primaries.

Mr Trump, who is charged with falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to the former porn star, is expected to be crisscrossing the country next spring along with his rivals as states host presidential nominating contests.

But a New York judge warned Mr Trump, 76, at a hearing on Tuesday that he should not make any commitments during March 2024, with the trial date set for March 25.

The former president, appearing by video conference at a pretrial hearing on Tuesday, glowered at the camera as Judge Juan Manuel Merchan advised him he should not make any commitments during the trial, which could last for several weeks. “They forced upon us a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of Primary season.

“Very unfair, but this is exactly what the Radical Left Democrats wanted,” he wrote on Truth Social after the hearing.

“It’s called ELECTION INTERFERENCE, and nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before!!!”

Mr Trump also claimed that his right to freedom of speech had been “violated” by a protective order that the judge introduced. Judge Merchan said that restrictions on what Mr Trump can say and do regarding the case will not impede his ability to campaign.

He added that Mr Trump “is certainly free to deny the charges, he is free to defend himself against the charges”.

Mr Trump has condemned the case as a “political witch-hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party”.