Trump's Porn Star Hush-Money Case Set For March Trial In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — Former President Donald Trump's porn star hush-money trial in New York City won't be pushed back or dismissed, a judge said Thursday.

Jury selection in the trial will go forward as scheduled March 25, ruled Judge Juan Manuel Merchan during a court hearing attended by Trump himself.

The ruling — and Merchan's decision to reject a bid to toss the case — sets the stage for the first criminal trial of a former president.

Trump, in a Truth Social post before the hearing, wrote he didn't commit a crime and contended prosecutors tried to time the case to coincide with the 2024 presidential election.

"Heading to yet another Courthouse in Manhattan on a case that would have never been brought if I wasn’t running for Pres," he posted.

Trump's lawyers tried to delay the trial because its March 25 date overlapped with his election campaign. The former president repeated those arguments with reporters outside the courtroom.

"How can you run for election if you’re sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long?" he said.

But, as the Associated Press pointed out, Trump has repeatedly attended court proceedings where he didn't need to show up.

The case centers in part around accusations that Trump made indirect hush money payments of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels — who says she and Trump had sex in 2006 — before the 2016 election.

He's also accused of paying off former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said she had a months-long affair with him, by getting his former lawyer Michael Cohen to arrange the National Enquirer to buy her story and never publish it — a practice known as "catch and kill."

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of falsifying business records related to those payments in a bid to hide damaging information from the public before the 2016 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts in the case and maintains he committed no crime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.