New York judge sets Trump's first criminal trial in hush money case for March 25

Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A New York Judge on Thursday set the trial for former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial for March 25. The ex-president called the date a form of "election interference."

Judge Juan Merchan denied the request by Trump, who attended the pretrial hearing, to dismiss the charges against him.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said that going ahead with the March trial is a "great injustice."

Prosecutor Matthew Colango argued that Trump's lawyer previously said the March 25 date would minimize disruption to Trump's campaign. Colango said trying to delay the trial is part of "a continued pattern to evade accountability."

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

He denies the charges.

Trump, the leading GOP primary candidate to take on President Joe Biden, said the case is all an effort to keep him off the campaign trail and swing the election for the current president.

"No one has seen anything like this," Trump said outside of court surrounded by reporters and supporters. "It's a rigged state and a rigged city. What they ought to do is go out and take care of the violent crime.

"It's a very unfair situation. They want to keep me busy so I can't go out and campaign but maybe we won't have to campaign too hard because the other side is incompetent."

Trump suggested that the New York City district attorney's office is coordinating the case with the federal Justice Department to help Biden.

Prosecutors allege Trump falsified the business records in an effort to conceal a series of payments to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen reimbursing Cohen for $130,000 he paid to Daniels on Trump's behalf.

Trump faces a total of 91 felonies in four different criminal cases.

A grand jury indicted Trump on the 34 counts related to payments to Daniels last March. Prosecutors in that case allege Trump's motive for committing the business fraud to allegedly disguise the payments was to hide damaging information from the public during the 2016 presidential election.

Falsifying business records is a class E felony in New York, with each charge carrying a maximum four years in prison usually served concurrently.

In addition to the criminal cases, Trump has been found civilly liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jeanne Carroll and for committing systematic business fraud in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

A ruling from Judge Arthur Engoron on how much Trump will have to pay for business fraud in the New York civil case is expected as soon as Friday.