Judge drops the hammer in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial
Earlier today Donald Trump made a last minute filing in his New York criminal trial, claiming that he’s protected by “presidential immunity.” Trump already lost this particular battle in this trial, so he’s grasping at straws. And these kinds of last minute filings never manage to delay anything.
Predictably, Judge Merchan is responding to Trump’s filing in – shall we say – annoyed fashion. He’s giving prosecutors until this Wednesday to file a response to Trump’s motion (hint: Trump will lose). More importantly, the judge is now barring Trump from making any more pretrial filings in this case. If Trump wants to make any such filings, he has to seek and obtain permission from the judge first.
This is how a judge goes about making sure that a trial starts on time. Trump will lose this motion within the next few days, and then the trial will begin on March 25th as originally scheduled.
It’s also worth pointing out that Donald Trump is already managing to annoy the trial judge. This matters because, while judges don’t retaliate against people for being annoying, it does mean Trump will be without the benefit of the doubt. If Trump insists during the trial that he needs leeway on something, the judge will be less likely to give Trump that leeway. Annoying your trial judge is stupid. And Trump is doing it for no gain.
