When will Donald Trump reappear in court? When will we know the final verdict?
The charges have been read, and a new court date has been set in the case against former Presidnet Donald Trump. When has the judge ordered him to appear?
Donald Trump has been charged with thirty-four counts of “falsifying business records in the first degree,” a Class E Felony that carries with it a maximum of four years in prison.
The 45th President of the United States is the first to be charged with any crime after leaving office, a fact that Donald Trump has tried to use to politize the case against him.
Trump pled not guilty to the more than thirty counts, meaning that unless a deal is struck with the prosecution, the former president will reappear in court later this year... but when?
Follow our coverage live: Donald Trump’s arraignment | Latest Updates
Don’t hold your breath...
It may be some time before Donald Trump makes his way back to the Manhattan courthouse. Judge Juan Merchan ordered that the former president appear before him again on 4 December 2023, giving both sides around eight months to prepare their legal case.
Knowing exactly when the verdict will be known is impossible. Nevertheless, based on the late court date set by Judge Juan Merchan, we may be looking at a early 2024.
What has Donald Trump said about the case against him?
Trump has made many statements about the indictment and charges against him, calling the entire affair another “witch hunt,” and claiming that the judge assigned to the case “hates” him.
This evening he will make a speech from Mar-a-Lago to a small group of supporters to voice his grievances with the case relating to hush money payments to women he has had alleged affairs with.
No gag order was imposed on Donald Trump
NBC’s Joyce Alene has tweeted that Donald Trump has posted a picture of Judge Merchan’s daughter on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
The intent of the post was to highlight that the judge’s daughter has connections to the Biden-Harris campaign. Alene pointed out that even if the information is true, this would not represent a conflict of interest for Judge Merchan and instead only serves the purpose of intimating and threatening the court official and his family.
The prosecution had presented the former president’s posts on social media as justification to establish a gag order to prohibit Trump from making comments that could incite violence. Judge Merchan chose not to enact any order that would limit the defendant’s expressive freedoms.